Becoming a Lonely Wanderer
by 1WiththeButterfly
Summary: Ashlyn can't say that she enjoyed her life in Vault 101, but it was her home. So, when she is woken up by a tearful best friend, given a packed bag, and only barely escapes with her life, she isn't ready for the Capital Wasteland. She'll have to learn.
1. I

_War...War never changes..._

* * *

"Happy Birthday!"

I'm stunned. Honestly, I wasn't expecting a birthday party, I thought the most I'd get was a gift from Dad and Amata. But, wow. By vault standards, this was big (The books I'd read in the vault library seemed to be full of extravagant parties, but they were probably fiction. Probably). Dad and Amata had jumped out from behind the booths, turning on the lights as they did so. My smile couldn't have been bigger.

The Overseer came up to me and gave one of his speeches. I suppressed a giggle when dad rolled his eyes at him. Even Amata seemed a bit bemused by his ramblings about it being a great honour to serve the Vault. He ended it by giving me a Pip-Boy, though, so I can forgive him for sounding boring. Let me tell you, Pip-boys are weird. They're almost impossible to take off, but they loosen as you grow, so that they're never too tight. Stanley told me that they can connect with almost any computer terminal, and at least activate the ones it cant just take over. Stanley seemed pretty proud of that last one, for some reason...

"Ashlyn? You in there?" Amata waved her hand in front of my face, "You vagued out for a second there. Like the Party?"

"I love it, Amata. Thank you so much" I pull her into a hug, which she struggles out from. The look on her face says it all _No bear hugs, remember?_

"I didn't do much. Your Dad organised it all, I just helped with the decorations and flipped the light switch. You should really be thanking him, not me" She looks around, shiftily. "I was gonna give you your present later, but here you go. Grognak #14, found it in a box in the attic. I think it used to belong to my Father, as unbelievable as that sounds." We both look at the Overseer-Amata's Father-sitting in a booth with Mrs. Palmer. I cant imagine him ever having fun at all, much less reading comics. I quickly capture my best friend in a sneaky hug before she could protest, before darting off. Amata laughed and told my retreating back to mingle.

Mrs. Palmer calls me over to her and the Overseer.

"Oh, you're growing up so fast, young lady. I can still remember when your father...Never mind. Anyway, would you like your present?" I like Mrs. Palmer, even though shes a bit absent minded sometimes. It's really nice that she thought to get me a present.

"Oh, you didn't have to get me anythi-"

"Nonsense, what 10 year old doesn't like presents. I remember when I was your age, I loved presents. Back then, the Vault was positively crowded, not like today.." She sits in silence for a few seconds, before returning from whatever memory lane she had visited "Here, I baked you a Sweet Roll" She hands over a small bundle, which I take carefully from her hands. Her treats are _legendary_. Any concern I had over her silence and ominous comments evaporate instantly.

"Thank you Mrs. Palmer" I manage to mumble, looking at the wrapped up cake. I can remember when she made one of these for Amata once, and she gave me a piece. It had been absolutely divine. My stomach is already starting to rumble in anticipation.

**"Attention Everyone! I am about to cut the cake!"**

We all watch in fascinated horror as Stanley lunges at Andy, the Vaults only working Robot, as the Floating Machine lowers it's rotating saw on the cake, but failing to stop the untimely doom of the confectionery. A small blob of frosting flies through the air, landing on the Overseer's forehead. He wipes it off with his sleeve, a dark scowl on his face. Now is probably not the time to talk to him.

I walk over to Dad and Stanley, who is laughingly wiping frosting off his face with a towel, a sharp contrast to the Overseer.

"Hehe, that could have gone better. Sorry I couldn't save your cake, Champ," He grabs my arm to look at my new Pip-Boy, "Ah, The 3000A. You like it? its a little basic compared to some of the others around, but its reliable. I doubt you'll ever have to bring it in for me to fix" Stanley whistles in appreciation. He does all the maintenance work in the Vault, and he really knows his stuff.

"Did you pick it out for me, Stanley?"

"Sure did, pumpkin. Al' over there might have given it you," He points to the Overseer, still angry, before leaning down to me and whispering, "But its really from me.

Stanley is one of my favourite people down in the vault, besides my Dad and Amata. He likes teaching me some of the things he knows about the technology that keeps the vault going, and I like learning it from him. I give him a winning smile "Thanks, I really like it"

"That's the spirit, but I got you this as well" He slams a baseball cap down on my head, temporally blinding me when my red hair covers my eyes. My Dad laughs at our antics "You still trying to groom my daughter as your successor, Old Man?"

"Hey, kid's got potential" Stanley "And I'm not gonna last forever. She'd be a good mechanic"

The mood turns somber, and I slip out while Dad and Stanley sit in silence. I don't really want to think about death on my birthday.

"Hey dingus, come over here" I cant say I wanted to think about them either. Butch, and his friends Wally and Paul, are sitting in one of the booths of the cafeteria.

"Who invited you" I scowl. I don't like Butch

"I'm hungry, and that stupid robot destroyed the cake" He whines "Gimme that Sweet-Roll Old Lady Palmer gave to you" My Sweet-Roll? Hand over that piece of Nirvana to Butch? Not a chance, I'm saving that for myself (Of course, I owe Amata a piece, but Butch isn't getting squat).

"No, Mrs. Palmer made it for me..."

"I don't care, I'm taking it!" He lunges for me, trying to grab the cake I'm holding out of my hands. Stanley and Officer Gomez both perk up at the sounds of our scuffle.

"Go soak your head, Butch, this is _my _Sweet Roll" Butch scrunches up his face, and sucker punches me right in the nose. I stumble backwards, stunned, while Butch follows, swinging his fists wildly. I kick out at his legs, but he somehow stays upright and clocks me on the side of the head, before Officer Gomez pulls him off me. I watch as he gets thrown into the seats of the booth he was sitting on, while Gomez starts chewing him out for hitting a girl. I touch my nose, and my hand comes away bloody. Bastard.

"Hey, are you okay?" Amata says, as she rushes across the room, "Oh god, your nose..."

"Its fine" I scowl at Butch, who is looking pleased with himself.

"What'd you do to him to get him to punch you?" she asks me

"So its my fault that he's too dumb to be a Garbage Bur-" I start to shout at her, but she cuts me off with a look, "...he tried to take my Sweet-Roll" Amata just sighs, and pulls me away from the counter I was leaning on.

"C'mon, you. We have another surprise ready" She hands me over to dad, before going back into the cafeteria, "Meet at my room later, 'kay"

Dad gets off the phone with Jonas, and tells me to go down to the reactor level. He goes in the direction of his office, and I go down the empty corridors of my underground home. Its so eerie down here, when you're alone. Its so empty and featureless, except for the small glowing signs above each door. Before long, I've managed to get lost. I'm about to shout out for help, but as I turn a corner, I catch sight of the Overseer and Officer Kendall, one of the many security guards, talking.

"...came to that brat's party because Amata is friends with her. The sacrifices I make!" He laughs cruelly, and Kendall smiles beneath his visor "Give them a few more minutes, then send them back to work." I creep back the way I came, not wanting to be accused of eavesdropping. I always knew that Amata's father didn't like me that much, but hearing him say it out loud still hurts. I lift up my hand to wipe away some sweat (and not the tears welling up, because there aren't any!), and see my birthday present. Of course!

After using the Pip-Boy's inbuilt map, I find the door to the Reactor Level easily. I've never been down these stairs before, since Kids aren't allowed in the lower levels, so I'm nervous in anticipation. I push the panel on the side board to open the door, and see...just another room, with the minor addition of a fence and some strange equipment behind it. Oh.

"Now what are you doing down here, young lady" Jonas says, getting up from a chair in the far corner "You're not supposed to be down here." I hadn't noticed him when I'd walked in, because he'd been hidden behind the Pillar, but I could see him now, with a stern frown on his face. If this is your idea of a joke, Dad...

"Jonas! Um, Dad told me that I was supposed to-"

"Calm down, I was joking" The stern frown breaks into a happy smile "and I wouldn't get you in trouble on your Birthday anyway" I sigh in relief, and wobble slightly. If anyone consistently gets the drop on me, its Jonas. He's just so hard to read, since he shows so little emotion most of the time.

"Now, your Father should be here any second, and then we can get to your supr- Oh there you are James" I turn to see Dad walking down the stairway I'd just taken, holding something behind his back. Jonas is still smiling, which I take as a good sign. Dad walks up to us both, and bends down to be at eye level with me.

"Hey, Kiddo. Now, the Overseer thinks you're old enough to start working, so I think you're old enough for this too." He reveals the object he'd been hiding, a BB Gun. I gasp in shock "Now, it might be a bit old, and it took Jonas and I almost three months to fix, but it should work fine"

I stare in amazement at the antique toy, or weapon if you want. It might be a bit battered, but its amazing that they'd been able to make it workable at all. I take a mock stance, sliding the BB Gun's stock into the crook of my arm and miming shooting it. Dad starts to chuckle at my antics.

"How did you guys get the parts to fix this?" I ask, after examining some of the pieces that had been used to repair it; I'm certain that part of the gun is made of a picture frame that went missing from Dad's office a few weeks ago.

"Well, if Butch comes round looking for his switch-blade, say nothing. Now come on, lets try it out" He puts his hand on my shoulder, and guides me to the next door, which most definitely doesn't lead to "just another room"

It was probably a storage room, but the corridor had been re-purposed into a shooting range. Gray steel boxes have been piled up in a long line, with more on either side, with specific boxes left out of the stacks, presumably for people to sit on. Three poles have been erected beyond the barrier, and I can barely make out the newly welded piping that they're composed of in the dim lighting. The dark flooring is a sharp contrast to the rest of the vault, and the lanterns that give shed light on the room are nothing like the buzzing fluorescents throughout the rest of my home. I love it instantly, the difference to the sterility of most of my life making it extra appealing. Dad and Jonas keep a few steps behind me, with grins on their faces. I want to say thank you, but I cant get out the words. I think the hug I give them both gets my point across quite well.

"Well, give it a go" Dad urges, and I aim at the circles attached to the Metal Poles. It takes a few shots before I figure out how to aim it properly, but I eventually get all three targets to spin around with a satisfying _ping! _I barely pause between shooting the last target, and moving onto the Radroach that crawls out of the shadows, probably attracted by the noise. Three shots, and the mutated cockroaches carapace crumbled inwards.

"Hey, good job Kiddo. One less Radroach to deal with. Hey Jonas, take a picture of me with the big game hunter" Jonas walks over to one of the boxes, and picks up a Camera lying there. I flick the gun over my shoulder, and Smile while the flash blinds me

* * *

Four Years Later

* * *

"You spend too much time down here, Ash" Amata says, as I squeeze my ancient BB Gun's trigger, attempting to bounce the pellet to hit two targets at once. Predictably, it misses. Bullets don't work that way.

"Well, you're down here with me, so maybe its mutual" I grin widely, and nudge my friend. She's reading a battered copy of _1984_. Before Mrs. Stevenson died, she gave Amata a stack of "Classics", old books from before the Great War. She's read them all, but she never seems to get bored of them.

"Shut up, you" She says, poking out her tongue at me. I laugh, and go back to my impossible shot. Amata does have a point though, I spend more time down here shooting at these targets than I do anywhere else in the vault. I'm always grumpy around the other kids, and I don't really get picked to do any odd jobs that often. Dad says I'm going through puberty late, which really sucks. Ugh, Hormones.

It probably doesn't contribute to me spending all my time down here _that_ much, though. I'm not what you could call ms. popular down in the vault. Butch and his cronies, Wally and Paul, have been steadily making life worse for me for years. The other girls think I'm too boyish to hang out with them, since no 'real' girl would like shooting things and mechanics. Freddie is, well, kind of a dick to everyone. The only one who I can really relate to is Amata, and I'm really glad that I have her as a friend. Without her, Life down here would suck.

We sit in silence, barring the noise of my BB Gun, for another hour or so, until Amata finishes her book. That's when she decides we've been down here for two long, so we head back up to the vault proper. On our way down a corridor, we hear some raised voices coming from my Father's Office

"..nas to you so he could learn to be a better doctor, not so he could help you with some folly experiments!"

"Its his choice to help me, Alfonse, and as long as I have the equipment to do s-"

"If you do not cease your experiments immediately, I will be forced to take action. Your Daughter, for instance..."

Amata and I share a look, before dashing along the corridor, stopping once we get out of earshot. Neither of us are runners, so we're panting a bit when we stop.

"what the hell was that about" She mumbles out. I have no answer, in fact I'm asking the same question myself.

"My Dad pissed off your Dad" That, at least, is fairly obvious.

Amata doesn't say anything for a while, and we recover from our dash down the corridors enough to start walking to our destination; Amata's room. When we don't hang out in my Shooting Range, we're mostly here. We don't have anything much to talk about, so we go to our default of complaining about the other kids. Amata isn't treated very nicely by a lot of them, although she isn't ostracized by the girls like I am, which I don't understand. Amata is really nice, and she hasn't got a malicious bone in her body. Shes a great friend, and a great person in general. So why in the world do Butch and his cronies pick on her? Idiots.

We chat until it starts getting close to curfew, when I have to head back to my own quarters. I say goodbye to Amata, but just as I'm about to head off, the Overseer calls me over to him. He's sitting at the table, outside of their rooms.

"Ashlyn, take a walk with me"

"Of course, sir" I'm a bit confused at this. He doesn't make a secret of disliking me. What could he possibly have to talk to me about? As soon as we turn a corner in the corridors, I know

"Ashlyn, I would like you to stop associating with my daughter"

"...What!"

"Your friendship with Amata has been helpful to her in the past, but you are influencing her in a negative manner, since it is her duty to become Overseer one day. Your recklessness and rebellious tendencies are not qualities that would suit a leader, and I would wish to prevent them from rubbing off on my daughter." He stops walking and stares at me "Do you understand me?"

I'm completely stunned. How the hell do you reply to that?

"No way am I doing that. Amata is my friend!" I shout back, letting my anger do the talking

"Friends change, and She would be more suited to have a friendship with other children of the vault. Her association with you causes her to have...difficulties, socially" He stops staring at me, and starts walking again. I start walking again, my face flushed with a mixture of embarrassment and rage "It would be best for her future, if she were to be on the best possible terms with everyone, and you jeopardise that."

"You cant choose who she spends her time with," I growl, "She's not going to just ditch me because you tell her too"

He smiles at me, a really weird smile. "We shall see. This is your stop, if I'm not mistaken" We're already at my room, and I shoot one last glare at the man who controls the world, before heading off to bed.

The next day goes as normal. Theres school, and after that a work assignment for each of us (these aren't very hard, just things like deliveries, or other simple duties). Once this is over, Amata and I head down to our normal hideaway of my shooting range, and she doesn't act like her father said anything to her about our confrontation the night before. Everything is like normal.

* * *

Two Years Later

* * *

"Ready for the G.O.A.T. Kiddo" Dad says smiling, and sits down at the table with me. I've brought a bowl of cereal with me to the clinic, partly so he can wish me luck on my exam, and partly because Amata wasn't at breakfast this morning.

"Well, I suppose. Its a bit daunting. What if I do badly?"

"You'll do fine," He reassures me, "The G.O.A.T isn't really something you can fail."

I think that he seems a little sad, but I can't understand why. I stare at my father for a few minutes, before going back to my Cereal. I have enough to stew over without worrying about my Dad. Today, my future job in the vault will be decided and that's pretty daunting. We sit at the table in silence, until I finish my breakfast.

"Okay, honey, time to go" Dad says, and helps to pack away the bowl and cutlery I'd brought from home "I'll run these back for you on my break" He promises, and ushers me out the door. Jonas wishes me luck as he passes me in the clinic, and goes into the office I'd just left

"Do you have the results of the exp-" The rest of my dad's question is cut off by the closing door, which I stare at blankly. But thats a mystery I'll have to solve at a later date, I'm almost late for my exam.

Despite that, I get sidetracked again when I see Stanley waiting in the clinic for either my Father or Jonas to be free. Stanley is in his late 60s, and hes getting a whole host of health problems. I've heard Dad talking about it with Jonas, and he's worried that the old mechanic wont live for much longer. He assures me that he'll be fine though, and I hope he will be. He's one of the people in the vault who I genuinely like, I don't want to lose him. I wish him goodbye, and smile at his shouted "Good Luck", before leaving for the Classroom, which is just down the hall from the clinic.

"..could show you a REAL tunnel snake, Amata"

"Shut up, Butch! Just let me through!"

All thoughts of Stanley and the G.O.A.T are forgotten, when I see Butch and his stupid gang boxing Amata into a corner. She's got her arms wrapped around herself, and is cringing at their proximity. Oh, there's no way that's allowed! I dash over, and push Hannon out of the way, and grab Butch by the collar.

"What are you doing to my friend, butch!" I spit out at him, glaring at him through squinted eyes

"Ash, don't-" Amata starts to say

"We're just...playing with little miss Overseer. What's it to you?" Butch, feeling confident with his big, scary friends with him. I'm not impressed.

"You mess with her, and you mess with me, Asshole" I didn't intend that last part, it just sorta slipped out. Although, it is definitely a fitting description for him.

Butch snigger's "And who are you, her girlfriend? Shoulda known you were a dyke" He looks to his friends for laughs, which they dutifully give. I give him a punch in the gut. He slumps down on the wall, winded, gesturing for his cronies to attack me. Paul is closer, and his fist connects with my cheek with a dull thud before I can react. Wally is next, and he punches me in the ribs. I throw my hands up in front of my face, blocking Paul's next hit, before retaliating with a wild kick. I knock Wally's fist out of the way with my own, and hit him in the temple with my forearm (taking a hit on the shoulder from Paul). I get my balance back, and-

_WHAM!_

Butch's hand comes out of nowhere, and hits me in the nose like a truck. I stumble backwards, crashing into the wall as I do so. Butch is still coming, and punches me again, this time hitting the side of my forehead. Some blood starts to cloud my vision, so it seems like that last hit drew bloo-

"Please, stop hitting her!" Amata yells.

Oh right, I need to protect her, that's why I'm getting beat up. I squint through the blood, and dodge to the right, my shoulder clipping the indent in the wall. Paul's fist, however, connects with the steel walls of the Vault, and I hear a satisfying crack before he shouts in pain. Wally is closer than Butch, so I kick at his thigh, and then punch him in the solar plexus. He starts folding up, and I give him another hard kick to get him to stay down. I start to move onto Butch, when...

"Whoa, whoa. Tunnel Snakes, lets go. We're not gonna bother with this Bitch" Butch shouts, his voice breaking, before quickly disappearing into the classroom. Paul and Wally follow, each nursing their respective wounds. I slide down the wall, finally collapsing onto the floor. Amata runs other to me, and starts checking me over for injuries.

"You're hurt" She manages, tears streaming down her face "You tried to protect me. Thank you"

"It's okay, 'mata. Its not like I could let them hurt you" Despite the pain, I'm smiling a little. I protected her.

She holds me like this for another few seconds, before helping me up. She walks me over to the bubbler, and makes sure I can stand while I wash the blood off my face. My nose hurts like hell, I'll have to get dad to look at it afterwards.

I try to convince Amata that I'm okay, but she props me up on her shoulder as we walk into the classroom. Mr. Brotch raises an eyebrow, but says nothing. I think he must practice being jaded and discontented every day in front of the mirror. Amata sets me down in one of the empty chairs, and takes the one in front of me herself. Brotch gets up and starts reciting the questions of the G.O.A.T

I stare in disbelief at my paper. How in the world do these help to decide job placement! The only one that's even vaguely related to work is the one about the interning at the Clinic! I still put down the answers as best I can, but I feel like I'm missing a crucial part of this exercise. I think I get it once I reach the last question though. Amata looks at me once we've finished _do you need me to help you up?_

I shake my head, and get to my feet, wincing at my already forming bruises. I'm one of the last to get in Brotch's line to find out our futures, except for Freddie (but that's to be expected, of course), so I get to see how everyone else gets assigned. Amata gets shift supervisor, which is basically saying she's getting fast-tracked to becoming the next overseer; no surprises there. Christine gets Home Ec. Susie will be teaching the next generation, while her Brother just walked out, saying he chose the answers that he knows will get him what he wants. I have some doubts about that. Paul is gonna be an Engineer, apparently. Finally...

"A Hairdresser! I'm no hairdresser!" Butch shouts, scattering the papers on Mr. Brotch's desk, who just seems bored by it all. I am amazed, he must practice indifference too. "Being a Hairdresser is for sissies, and Butch DeLoria is no Sissy!"

Brotch just stares at him with his indifferent expression for a moment, before calming asking "How do you feel about being a barber"

"Now just lis...hey, that doesn't sound so bad" Butch muses, rubbing his chin with his hand "Yeah, I'd be a kick ass barber"

I laugh as Butch leaves the Classroom, but start scowling again when he bumps past Amata (who was waiting for me to finish). I walk up to Brotch myself, but don't hand over my paper.

"So, sir, what position am I getting?"

The Teacher's expression doesn't change, but he nods a little and looks at the list on his desk.

"You're going to be a technician in the Maintenance department" He says, after finding my name. I freakin' knew it!

"The G.O.A.T doesn't mean squat, does it. These stupid questions are just there to make it seem like we made some decisions about our future" I say it in an accusing tone, and hear Amata gasp at my statement. Freddie is too busy trying to figure out whether the last question is a trick or not to listen.

Brotch sighs, and puts his hand on his brow "You're a smart girl. If you weren't my student, I'd probably like you. So I'll give you a word of advice: Keep these sorts of ideas to yourself, and stay on Alfonse's good side. Now, go enjoy the rest of your day, you'll start working tomorrow"

I want to ask more questions, to point out the unfairness of it all, but only nod, and Amata grabs me by the arm as we leave.

"You cant be serious, can you? That the G.O.A.T is just a fraud?" She wants me to reassure her, to tell her the test we just sat is important. I don't blame her in the slightest

"I don't know 'mata. I just want to go get my Dad to look at my nose"

She nods, those troubling thoughts forgotten by the both of us. We go to the Clinic, and Dad simply shakes his head when I explain what happens. Amata sits with me the whole time, and I get to tell Dad about my future career.

"Well, I guess you two will be seeing a lot less of each other" My father says, while he checks out the smaller cuts on my head. We both give him a questioning look, so he continues "Because of your new jobs. Amata, you'll be spending a lot of time working with your father, where he'll teach you the skills you'll need to govern the vault. And you, Ashlyn, will be down in the lower levels with Stanley, learning how to repair it. These jobs will take up most of your time, so you'll be hard pressed to see each other" He goes back to his task.

I'm completely silent, only half listening to Amata complain about the unfairness of it all. All I can think of was a confrontation with her Father, two years ago. When I boldly declared that he wouldn't be able to keep us apart.

Sonuva-

* * *

Three Years Later

* * *

_The sky is beautiful. We are lying on the cool sands, together, curled up beneath the stars..._

"Wake up"

_I turn towards my lover, brushing a stray lock of hair from her eyes. A spark dashes between us..._

"Ashlyn, you wake up right now!"

_My lips brush against hers "I love you, Ama.._

Pain, pain, pain, pain! I wake up with a stinging pain in my cheek, like it was just twisted. And just as it was getting to the good part too. I open my eyes to see a frantic looking Amata standing over my bed.

"Oh, hi 'mata. I was just dreaming about you-" My face freezes. I just said that out loud, didn't I? That look she's giving me...yeah, I said it out loud. Fuck.

"Knock it off, this is serious. Your Dad just opened the Vault doors and bolted, and My father's men are coming for you"

I'm just sleepy enough for this to not faze me, but awake enough for the impossibility of it all to strike me as odd. "You wanna run that by me again?"

She looks worried, and sneaks a look at the door out of my room. She moves over to my bedroom drawer, and starts putting stuff into a satchel. I see her pile in two jumpsuits and my tools, before I close my eyes to yawn. When I re-open them, she's zipping the bag up, and passing it to me

"My father thinks you helped your Dad escape, and he sent security to come take you in. He's already killed Jonas, and I'm not letting him do the same to you" She looks really determined, and unless my eyes are mistaken, shes been crying.

"Well this is a really bizarre dream, 'mata, but-" She turns around from her task and slaps me. I feel the pain, but its the shock that has me reeling. Amata has never hit me, ever. In all of our lives together, this has never happened. Its incomprehensible.

"You are not dreaming! I am risking everything to help you, and I would appreciate a little seriousness on your part!" She is shouting at me, and fresh tears are running down her face "I just had to watch Jonas die, because one of MY FATHER'S goons wouldn't stop beating him! And I'm not going to let him do the same to you!" She stands stock still for a second, before collapsing into me with tears pouring down her face "I cant lose you..." I hug her tightly, just as she clenches her arms around me.

Amata breaks away from the hug (I bury the moment of disappointment) wiping away her tears with her forearm "You cant stay here, not after this." She sniffs "Go to my father's office, and use his terminal to open a way to the door. He's blocked off the normal exit"

Her hand dives into a pocket of her jumpsuit, before pulling out a handful of bobby pins "You can use these to get in...Its what I usually do." If it had been any other time, I would have cheered her on for that, but the seriousness has already sunk in. I just nod, take the pins and make for the door. Amata grabs my arm on the way out "One more thing...I stole this from my father's desk. You might need it" In her hand, held loosely, is a 10mm pistol. The look on her face easily betrays her disgust at holding the weapon. I take it solemnly, holding it just as uneasily. I put it into the bag Amata packed for me, and nod my thanks.

After Amata dashes off, promising to meet up later, I move over to my desk, snatching up the Baseball Bat and my BB. I dash out into my small living space and look out the door, seeing no one there. I'm about to run off..

"Shit, pellets!"

I scramble back to my desk, and grab the small box of pellets for my BB Gun. Now, time to go proper. I run out the door, without looking this time, and bounce off the kevlar vest of Officer Kendall. I stumble backwards, too stunned to properly react, and Kendall grins _he wasn't here a second ago!_

He pulls the Security Baton out of his belt, and takes a swing at me, which I barely avoid. I trip over my own feet, and land hard on the floor. I scramble for the baseball bat that stick out of my bag, but grab my BB Gun instead. I thrust it between us, holding it in both hands, and Kendall's Baton shatters my ancient toy. Somehow, thats more upsetting than all the rest of this.

"The Overseer wants you, girlie" Kendall leers, before screaming in pain. A Radroach had bitten straight through his Jumpsuit, and he shifts his attention towards it and its fellow mutated insects. I take the opportunity to snatch up the two largest pieces of my BB Gun, and stumble out of the hallway to my apartment, and dash up the stairs. I don't know why I took the BB, it was nothing but dead weight at this point, but I needed to hang onto it. The nine years of practice, learning exactly how the gun worked, the grooves that my fingers fit into perfectly, the memories of afternoons I would spend with Amata, before it got all complicated. I couldn't just leave it behind.

But obviously, today was not the day for me to reflect on those issues, as Butch ran headlong into me as I turned a corner.

"Dyke? You got to help me! The Radroaches got in, and they're attacking my Mom.." He gabbles frantically at me, pulling me by the arm towards the rooms he shares with his mother. I slip out of his grip, rubbing my arm where he grabbed me "Why should I help you, Butch. You've always been an Asshole to Amata and Me"

He just stares at me, completely shocked "But, but you gotta! ...I cant lose my Mom" He even tears up at the end. I cant believe that big, tough Butch DeLoria is crying in front of me. This is the weirdest day.

I've got to get out of here before Kendall shows up, and I need to find Amata before she gets into trouble. I don't owe Butch, or his Mum anything, and I need to get out of here before I get caught...but I would never be able to live with myself If I knew I could've helped, but didn't.

"C'mon, you big idiot, we're wasting time" His face lights up, and he pulls me along another one of the Vault's seemingly endless corridors, and I pick up the sound of screaming coming from the room ahead. Butch opens the doors as quickly as possible, but hesitates after he opens the door to the room his Mother is in. I just push him out of the way, and swing my Baseball at the Insects attacking Mrs. DeLoria. I catch two in one swing, and send them flying into a wall. I bash the remaining one into the floor with the Bat, and turn back to the others, which I only stunned. They offer no resistance to my Wooden Bat, and they splatter over the carpet. I stand up tall, and let out the breath I'd been holding since I barged into the room.

"You did it! You're my best friend in the world!" He jumps over to me, squeasing me into a joyful hug "Thank you, Thank you so fucking much!" I brush him off, saying something stupid. His mother is shell-shocked, and she collapses into a chair in the other room. She smiles at me, her thanks written all over her face, before fainting where she sat. I take a quick peek out the door to make sure the coast is clear, and...

"Wait, Dy-Ashlyn" Butch grabs my shoulder as I'm about to leave "I know we haven't always got along...but I really appreciate what you did for me, and for my Mom. I know it doesn't make all the shitty things I did right, but here, I want you to have this" He shrugs off his prized leather jacket, and passes it too me. I hold it between two fingers, not sure if I should be grateful or offended by this. I settle for putting it in my bag. Butch scratches his head awkwardly "I dont know whats going on with you right now, but I owe ya one. If anyone comes looking for you, I'll tell 'em you went the other way"

I nod, and try to dash away again, but Butch grabs my shoulder again "You ain't coming back are you?"

_I haven't got time for this!_"No, Butch, guess this'll be it" This time, he lets me go, and I run as fast as I can towards the stairwell.

"I'll look out for your Girlfriend for ya!" He shouts after me, just as I take the first corner on the stairs, and I almost sigh in frustration; Butch just had to get one last joke, before we part ways.

I run through the next level without hindrance, avoiding a pair of Radroaches, and reach the next stairwell. Once again, I manage to bounce off the Kevlar vest of Vault Security. I try to swing my Bat up, but a strong hand grabs my wrist and holds it there.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down! I'm not gonna hurt you" Its Gomez "And I'm not going to turn you in either. They're all out of line here, and what they've done is unforgiveable," He waves me on, going past me down the stairs, "Be careful out there". He nods at me, before descending down to the lower level. All I can do is head the opposite way to him, and keep going. And, for the third time tonight, I manage to run into someone.

However, it isn't Vault Security this time, but Andy, the Mr. Handy that works with Stanley and I in Maintenance

**"Oh, hello, Madam! I suppose you must be looking for your father, but unfortunately, I rather have my hands full with these creatures"**The only hand that doesn't hold a tool gestures at a horde of Radroaches, which Andy was efficiently disposing of with his welding torch **"They are rather numerous today. I do suggest that you go to the Atrium, however, as it seems that all this commotion originates there"** Andy then ignores me, and goes back to slaughtering 'roaches.

Stanley comes out of the Clinic, a scalpel in each hand, trying to assist his Robot companion "Run, Princess. You haven't got much time before Al's goons catch up with you. We'll tell 'em you went the other way" He barks at me as he rushes past. I obey, a small smile on my face. I've actually got a lot of people who care about me down here, no matter how it feels sometimes. One more set of stairs to go.

I reach the atrium just in time to see Tom and Mary Holden gunned down by Vault Security. I scream in shock, this shouldn't be happening! It _can't _be happening! The Vault Security is supposed to protect us, not to shoot to kill if we act out of line!

I leap past the passageway the two guards are standing in, and dash up the stairway. When I reach the top, I'm treated to a view of the Overseer's office through a porthole. I'm almost there.

I turn a corner, and stop dead in my tracks when I see a horrible scene unfolding through a clear glass panel. Amata is being pushed onto a chair by Mack, one of the Overseer's newest Officers, while her father has his Arms folded behind her back.

"I don't know where she is!"

"Tell me the truth, Amata"

"I am telling you-"

_Smack_

My blood boils. Mack hit Amata. He _hit_ her.

I press the panel to open the door, and draw the gun from my satchel with my other hand. I take aim, and fire three times, all hitting him as he turns to face the new threat. I don't smirk in satisfaction when he falls, or spout a humorous one-liner. Because if I did that, it would have been Murder. What I did was what needed to be done, because he was hurting Amata. That is not allowed.

This all takes place in the space of a second, and Amata's scream brings me back to reality. She covers her mouth with her hands, before running out of the room. I stand stock still, as the rage I felt just a second ago subsides. The Overseer doesn't move an inch, just stares at me, still holding the gun outstretched. I feel sick.

"You might as well drop your weapons and surrender yourself. You're in enough trouble as it is" He says it matter-of-fact, seemingly indifferent to what I'd just done. I cant reply right now, I just turn the gun on him. His expression doesn't change.

"I could kill you"

"But you wont"

I lower the pistol. I shot Mack because Amata was in danger, but I am not a killer, not really. Her Father might be a monster, but...Amata loves him, and I...I can't.

"Promise me...promise me Amata wont get in trouble for all this" I beg him. His only reaction is a small smile "She will bare no consequences for your Actions" Its the best I can get, I suppose. In his own way, he cares about her too. I slowly stagger out the door, only turning to look at him, now staring at the ceiling "Aren't you going to try and stop me?"

He looks back at me, a puzzled look on his face "Now, why would I do that? You have nowhere to go, and you can't evade security forever. But, by all means, enjoy your last few moments of freedom" After he says that, he seemingly dismisses me, and goes back to staring at inane objects around the room. I scowl at him, and continue on.

The Almodavar household is sparse, barring the body of Jonas lying on the ground, slowly bleeding out. I feel the bile rise in my stomach, and my knees weaken. I have no idea what makes me notice his clenched fist, or to pry to the tape, labelled 'For Ashlyn', from his hands, already suffering from Rigor Mortis. I plug it into my Pip-Boy, but don't activate it. Instead, I go through the archway to the next room, and find Amata with her head in her hands, violently crying. I put my hand on her shoulder, but I don't know what to say.

"I didn't tell them, I wanted you to get away.." She gasps out, between her violent shakes and tears.

"Its okay, you did good, 'mata" I try to sooth her, but she pushes me away.

"You've got to go. I'll catch up" She gulps at me, snot pouring out of her nose. I leave her, as much as it hurts. She doesn't need me to comfort her, even If I want to.

The Overseer's office is stupidly easy to break into. The lock is old, and I spend my life tinkering with Mechanisms, making them work better. I push through without breaking the pin, and head to the terminal, the only feature of the room besides a chair in its center. I pause for a second, before entering the only password it could possibly be.

_Amata_

We both care about her, even if we show it differently. No matter how much I hate him, I know he cant be all bad, just because of that.

I activate the commands for the tunnel, and almost turn to run, but...I open the other files, but I haven't got time. I download all the files into my Pip-Boy, before breaking the connection and dashing into the dark, oily tunnels underneath the Overseer's Office.

* * *

My Pip-Boy proves invalualble down here, in the absence of any other light source. Its eerie to walk through an area of almost total darkness, when you're lived with constant light for your whole life. If it weren't for the glow from my wrist computers screen, I would have been screaming for help, begging to be let out, in the first minute. The darkness was...suffocating.

I had to move through two sets of doors, and a long tunnel that connected them, before lights started to appear. They were the dim, long lasting kind that needs changing once a century, not the bright flouro's that Me and Stanley spent our time painstakingly replacing. So, when I reached a dead end, I was comforted by it not being pitch dark. My hands probed the wall, looking for some sort of switch, or groove, some way that would allow me to proceed. I found nothing, nothing but smooth, featureless wall. I can tell that it doesn't back on to rock, but there isn't any obvious way of opening it.

No, I'm not letting it end this way. To come this far, and to be defeated by a concrete wall? Not a chance. I redouble my efforts, running my hands over every inch of the smooth concrete, and finally moving onto the piping that surrounds the block. Part of the piping once had a switch attached to it, but it was hastily removed. I can only assume the Overseer did this; it certainly explains why he was so smug before. But, now that I now what he's done to try and stop me, I can get out anyway.

The door is moved by the pressure in the pipes, it must be. Before the switch was removed, it would have triggered a pressure change to move the door down. Simple really, but it works. I take my tool kit from my bag, silently praising Amata for thinking to pack it, and set about loosening the valves, until the mechanism disengages on its own. I pack my tools up, carefully putting everything back in its proper place, and move on. Finally, I'm met with the sight of Vault 101' s imposing steel doors.

I walk across the room, down the set of stairs to lay my hand against the cool metal. I quickly retract my hand, however, and slowly walk to the console that controls the doors. This is it. I enter the command, and watch as the metal hatch is pushed away.

"Oh my god, you did it..."

I turn quickly, only to see Amata ducking through the now ruined door that I'd only just gone through myself. I hadn't heard her approach, over the sound of the Door's screeching. We stand in silence, for a brief moment, both of us staring out of the now open Vault Door. I sneak a look at her, and see that her eyes are still red, and her cheeks puffy.

"I couldn't have done it without you"

She laughs "No, you didn't need me at all. All I did was wake you up" We both startle as we start to hear voices coming from a second door, behind us. We both know I haven't got much time.

"Look, if there's anyone here who has a chance to survive whatever is out there, its you, Ash" Her tears are back, and I can tell that I'm crying too. I haven't cried since I was nine years old "Go find your father, and keep yourself alive" She buries me in an unsuspected hug, which she breaks just as quickly.

"Only if you do the same" I say, before dashing down the rocky tunnel. The Security Officers arrive just as I leave, and I hear the whir of bullets chipping against stone as I run. I look back just once, and see Amata standing in the same place I left her. I almost turn around fully, to go and be with her now, but I don't. I pull the wooden door open, and stumble out into the blinding light.

My eyes adjust slowly, and I'm treated to my first sunset as I hear the door to Vault 101 slide closed once more. Its not something I can describe, its something so alien to anything I've ever seen before. I stay like that, watching as the sun goes down below the horizon. The repercussions of what just happened is creeping in, that my entire life just disappeared. Everything I know, and understand, is behind that Steel Door. I have no idea about what to do here, nothing at all. I don't know where to go, how to start looking for my father. I don't know what to do about food, about water, about shelter.

The sheer enormity of it all is mind boggling.

I start flicking through the stuff I downloaded onto my Pip-Boy, and I'm dismayed to find that the download didn't complete properly, and the information was shredded by my fickle wrist computer. The only thing that survived were a picture of a Metal Dome, or something, a few words, and the Note from Dad. Because I have no other ideas, I play the note, and start walking down from the ledge I've found myself on.

_Hold on Jonas, I need to record this first._

_I.. I don't really know how to tell you this._  
_I hope you'll understand, but I know you might_  
_be angry. I thought about it for a long time, but_  
_in the end I decided it was best for you_  
_not to know._

The road is cracked and debilitated, uneven to walk on. Its also got a lot more traction than the smooth vault flaws, and I fall over because I try to slide my feet across it, like I would back home. There are also a few car wrecks, huddled together on the roadside. I decide against leaning against them, and just walk past. I have no idea where I'm going, only that I cant turn back. I catch sight of some houses around the bend in the cracked road. Better place to go than nowhere.

_So many things could have gone wrong and_  
_there's really no telling how the overseer will_  
_react when he finds out. It's best if he can blame_  
_everything on me. Obviously you already know_  
_that I'm gone. It was something I needed to do._

The houses are in even worse shape than the road, if that were possible. The walls have long rotted away, and only the solid beams remain. The floors of all the houses have either been buried underneath the piles of earth, or they're gone entirely. Segments of tin sheeting hang from the wooden structures, but they all look like they could fall apart at any moment.

A large metal sheet has been propped against the railing of what was once a petrol station. It reads 'MEGATON' with an arrow pointing off to the right, into the hills. I consider following the signs directions, but veer off at the last second; I have no guarantee that it'll lead me anywhere good, but in the same way I don't have a clue where else I could go. Its not the only road leading out of this...a small floating robot has just crossed the street in front of me.

"What in the world?"

_You're an adult now. You're ready to be on your_  
_own. Maybe someday things will change and we_  
_can see each other again. I can't tell you why I_  
_left or where I'm going. _

I watch as the floating device goes parades across the street, before changing course and moving down another road, not the one that supposedly leads to Megaton. Still curious, I follow it. Its not like I had anything that particularly needed doing. The device floats down towards a large building. As I get closer to it, I can make out the words on the sign, near its entrance; Springvale Elementary School.

_I DON'T want you to follow me. God knows life in the_  
_vault isn't perfect, but at least you'll be safe. Just_  
_knowing that will be enough to keep me going. _

As I get closer to the school, I start hearing the sound of creaking wood from inside the building. Some people, presumably. I leave the Floating Robot to whatever its doing, and approach the school.

"Hello! Is anyone in there" I shout, cupping my hands around my mouth as I do so "Can you help m-"

_CHICH! CHICH! CHICH!_

It feels like I got hit in the chest with a hammer. I take a step back, and stumble down to my knees. I look down at my chest, and see blood running like a river from a neat set of three holes in my chest. I try to stop myself from collapsing, but all the strength in me is gone. This cant be the end, not after everything thats happened. I promised Amata...

_Don't mean to rush you, Doc, but I'd feel better if we got_  
_this over with_

My vision starts to tunnel, blackness filling my eyes. I can still hear the sound of gunfire, bullets flying all around.

_Okay. Go ahead. Goodbye._

"We've got a live one, boss!"

I twist my head, and see a grizzled man in leather armor, their hand pressed against my neck. I'm too weak to try and stop him from slinging me over his shoulder, and diving behind the sign I'd just passed.

"I need some cover, Simms!" He shouts, aiming a rifle at the school. I can barely move my head anymore, but I look the other way as another man comes onto the scene, wearing a brown duster and drawing fire away from us. The first man takes the opportunity to pick me up, and start running towards the town I'd come from. I black out before we reach it.

* * *

_I love you._

* * *

Check my Profile for Author's Notes on this chapter.

Also, I am terribly sorry for the massive formatting fail that this chapter has been going through. Partly its 's fault, since it ate the Italics and Scene Breaks. And it didn't save the spellchecked words. But, its also my fault from the way I wrote it, using two different programs (one of which required me to write with HTML, which is why those tags appeared). Anyway, it should be fixed now. Sorry about that.


	2. Am

I feel absolutely horrible. I open my eyes, and close them just as quickly. I'd been staring up at a bright light, and coupled with the uncomfortable cot that I was lying on...was I in a hospital? Maybe I got poisoned from a gasleak, and I've been hallucinating this all in Dad's clinic.

"Hey, Kid, I know ya awake" an unfamiliar voice from off to my left pipes in

Oh well, so much for that. I turn my head towards the noise, and slowing open one eye. The same man who rescued me is sitting on a chair, his legs draped across the drawers next to my cot, was digging grime out of his fingernails with an ugly looking knife.

...wait, the man who rescued me?

I jump up into a sitting position, my aching muscles protesting as I do so, my hands frantically searching my chest for the wounds that I know where there. Instead of bloody holes, there are bandages wrapped around my chest instead. Also, and this is a secondary concern right now, I realise that besides the white(ish) linen, I have no clothes on.

"Calm down, sweetie, we're ain't gonna hurt ya" the man snigger's, slinging his legs back onto the floor "Here's what happened: You walked up to a Gang of Raiders, who shot ya up. They also took ya stuff, 'cept this" He throws the 10mm Amata gave me onto the bed "Now, I'm a busy man, and since I've done my duty as dictated by Mayor Simms, I'll be on my way" Even as he says this, he jumps out of his chair, and starts leaving through a door.

I pick up the pistol, and level it at his retreating back "Wait, what the hell is going on here!" He stops, but obviously isn't taking my threat seriously

"Please, kid, don't try to bluff me. Ya not gonna shoot" He smirks, but leans against the screen that (presumably) separates this cot from the others in the room.

"Where am I, who are you, and WHY AM I NAKED!" I shout, still holding the gun pointed squarely at him. Something he obviously doesn't take seriously.

"Ya in the glorious shit-hole of the wasteland, also known as Megaton. I am Jericho, ya friendly neighborhood none of ya goddamned business. And ya naked, because that stupid jumpsuit woulda stopped the doc from keeping ya alive if we'd taken the time to take it off conventionally, rather than cutting it to pieces"

I hold the gun at him for a few seconds more, before dropping my arm and pulling the threadbare blanket up to my chest. He just smirks, and returns to the chair he was sitting on, throwing a bundle from underneath at me. I catch it one-handed, the other keeping the blanket covering my body. Its a purple-grey jacket, and some sandy coloured jeans. Inside the jacket is a light brown shift, and some underwear. Jericho shrugs when I look at him again, pointing out a pair of boots on the floor as he did so.

"Its not Paradise Falls that ya holed up in, we ain't gonna make you walk around in just ya skin" He explained, shrugging. I aim the gun at him again, gesturing for him to leave, take a quick glance around the corner to make sure he actually left, before putting on the clothes I'd been given. They weren't uncomfortable, and weren't as restrictive as the Vault jumpsuit I was used to, and it felt really odd to be wearing them. Or to be wearing anything that wasn't my jumpsuit, really. I keep the 10mm in my hands (its not like I'm going to leave it behind, its the only real link I have to my Home now, since all of my belongings have apparently been stolen), and walk through the uneven doorway. Jericho is waiting by a closed door, grinning.

"Well, I cant say I like it more than you previous look, but-" I cut him off by leveling the gun at his head again, but he just bats it away "Stop pointing that thing at me, if you aren't gonna shoot!" He shouts.

"Well, looks like you're good to go" I turn at the sound of the new voice, I turn to see a black man with grey hair, sitting in a chair behind me.

"What?"

He leans forward "You see, my policy is that if my patient is well enough to pull a gun on someone, they are well enough to leave my care. So skedaddle, I've got other idiots to patch up" He gets up and starts pushing us out the door. My eyes are briefly blinded by the sunlight, but when it clears up...wow. This place is amazing! I stumble around, the unfamiliar looseness of my clothing keeping me slightly off balance, looking at the scrap metal structures that surrounded the crater I was standing in. Jericho snorts at me

"Okay, I've done my good deed for the day. Have fun doing whatever it is you're doing" He waves at me, before walking over to a metal walkway, going over the top of the building we'd just exited. I would have protested, or perhaps asked for some help, but I was distracted by the two headed cow, and my pressing need to choke down a scream. Because, really, who wouldn't be surprised by a two headed cow?

After moving away from the strange creature, I started walking around the center of the town, eyeing the bomb in the pool of water, and the group of people standing around a man standing in it. Apparently he thought that bomb was pretty great. I tried not to be too paranoid about what he was talking about, and moved up one of the walkways, cringing at the sound it made when my new footwear hit the metal. I was a bit confused at the reactions I was given by most of the people, who would either look away when they saw me glance at them, or even snapping at me if I tried to talk to them. I walked around the whole ring of the town, slightly bemused at this behaviour.

"Hello, are you new here?" I turn around to find a woman leaning towards me. I stumble backwards in shock "My names Moira, I'm the one in charge of Craterside. You could say its a General store I suppose" She stops leaning over, and I realise she is actually quite tall.

"Um...Ashlyn. I don't really know whats going on here..."

"Oh, you silly-billy, why didn't you say so. You must be a Vault Dweller. They always have such a hard time adjusting" Moira frowns a little as she speaks, and starts pulling me along towards one of the buildings. I make out the white paint sign haphazardly written above the door, before I'm dragged inside.

My eyes adjust to the difference in light levels again, and Its quite an interesting sight that meets my eyes. There are shelves covering every wall, and all of them chocked full of bizarre contraptions, junk, weapons, and other stray pieces of metal. Moira has taken up a position in the center of the room with her arms outstretched

"Ta-da!" She exclaimed, before sitting me down on the counter to my right. She leans down and props herself up against her arm, leaning agaisnt the counter "where to start, where to start..." she muses, twirling her red hair around on one finger "Alright, what do you know already?"

"Well, Jericho told me-"

"Jericho? You should stay away from him, he's a very bad man" Moira chastises me, and I feel strangely off put by her tone "Anyway, you were saying?" I slide myself further away from her.

"All I know is that this place is called Megaton, and that the bag I brought from the vault got stolen..." Along with my toolbox, which I'd been given on my first day of working with Stanley. Along with the spares clothes Amata had packed. Along with my BB Gun...I'd literally lost everything.

"Well, not having a Bag just won't do, especially if you go out into the wasteland. How else would you carry your things?" She says, as she dashes over to one of the boxes of junk, and pulls out a black bag as long as my arm, with a thick leather strap to sling it over your shoulders "This is for you, its a present" She sung, passing it over to me. I take it gingerly.

"Okay, so that's one problem solved; Do you have a weapon? You'll probably need one" She looks like shes reading to go ferret through some more boxes, but I pull the 10mm out of my jacket's pocket, holding it up between two fingers. She smiles unnervingly, and I place it in my new bag.

"It looks like you're ready to go face the wasteland. Just watch out for the Mole Rats, they tend to-"

"Mole Whats?"

She ponders me for a second, before punching a balled fist into her open palm "This is exactly why the Wasteland Survival Guide is so important. You see, I'm trying to write an encyclopedia of things that people need to know to help them survive in the Capital Wasteland. For Vault Dwellers especially, learning how to survive in the wasteland is very important" She has a look in her eye as she says all this, but it fades afterwards "unfortunately, no one in Megaton really trusts my ideas after I tried to domesticate that Deathclaw" I almost ask what's shes talking about, but catch myself; Do I really want to know?

I get off my uncomfortable perch, while she continues to pout. I'm about to thank her for the bag when she jumps up "Of course! How would you like to help me with the Wasteland Survival Guide? It'd be a great way for you to learn about everything that goes on out here, and it could help decades of Wastelanders to come. We'd make the wasteland a better place, for everyone who lives in it" She grins at me, her funk already long forgotten "What do you say, partner?"

"I guess so..." I mumble, backing against the in the face of her scary enthusiasm. It wasn't like I could say _no _after that!

* * *

_What have I gotten myself into? _Was the only coherent thought running through my mind as I trekked across the broken landscape, the white dot on my flickering wrist computer's screen my only direction to the Supermarket Moira had asked me to check for food and medical supplies.

I crested another hill, my legs aching from the effort. I'm not, and never have been, a Stamina freak. The vault wasn't the sort of environment you developed much stamina in, since it was, at the most, a few hundred metres across. My poor condition for hiking across these featureless wastes was really catching up on me now, since the distances were so much greater than anything I'd ever met before. That was one thing about the new world I'd found myself in; the size! I'd grown up in a world with perfectly defined, rigid boundaries. The world had gone for a certain length, and then it ended. Out here, there was no _end_. It just kept going on forever...

I decided to take a break, and sat down on a patch of rocks, scanning the landscape for movement. Moira had been nice enough to inform me of all the dangers I'd would be facing out here, so I was feeling deathly paranoid about running into giant lizards with razor sharp claws, or six-legged bears. If it hadn't been the fear that she'd been telling the truth, and those things could be waiting anywhere around here, I would probably have stayed grounded on those rocks for much longer.

Another half hour later, I'd reached what was presumably my destination. My Pip Boy's map, newly updated with an overview of the Area (another gift from Moira) was reading the 'Super-Duper Mart' as being the threatening looking building down from my position on a rock outcrop, with a tall building at my back. I stare over the lip of the rock, looking down at the disused parking lot, and almost throw up. I can see two dismembered bodies chained up in front of the entrance, and a pack of dogs jumping beneath, presumably trying to get at them for food. I swallow the bile, and proceed down to the lot. The dogs ignore me, since rotting meat was probably an easier meal, and I manage to slip through the entrance to the Mart.

I keep low as I enter, and peer around the corner, into the main portion of the supermarket. The dim lighting makes it hard to see, and activate my Pip-Boy light, and stand up, holding the light above my head. I see the silhouette of a woman walking across the tops of the aisles, and I'm about to shout out to her when she sees me, and whistles louding, pointing at me. Then she lifts her arm and starts shooting

_Oh shit, oh shit, ohshitohshitohshit!_

I dive back against the door, turning off my Pip Boy's light, and fumbling for the door handle. It's wedged shut. Desperate, I grab my flailing arm, kick the door open, and dash behind the Cola machine just as it swings closed again. Lucky for me, since a man-holding an ugly looking gun- comes through the door to investigate. Thankfully, the Raider just briefly looked around, and returned to the main area, completely missing me in the shadows of the drink dispenser.

"Yeah, they've gone" He shouts back to the other people in the Supermarket. I breath out a sigh of relief.

I almost make a move for the door again, but stop at the last minute. I promised Moira I'd help her with this Guide...and promises are important. Just because I wasn't in the vault anymore, doesn't mean I was just going to forget all the lessons and morals I'd learnt in the past Nineteen years. And Moira said it would be helping everyone in the wasteland. Yeah, I have to do this, its important that I go back in their, and

This inspiring psyche up wasn't really as effective as it could have been, and it takes me another few minutes to drag up the courage to move from the relative safety of the Cola Machine. Before I go, I pull the sleeve of my jacket over my Pip-Boy, to hide the tell-tale green glow it produces.

I duck down as far as I can, and shuffle through the doorway, moving into the shadows cast by the shelves. The poor lighting helps out here, making me blend in just enough to not be seen by the sentries. Or at least I hope not. I scuttle from patch of shadows to patch of shadows, taking care to avoid the tin cans that littered the floor. I do get caught underneath one of the wooden walkways just as an overweight man was walking over it, but he didn't notice me. I almost wet myself in fear, but I manage to move to the next line of shelter, a row of Aisles removed from the others, attached to the side of the wall.

As I reach this block, I fuck up bad. I step on one of the trolleys, and the resulting noise sounds deafening to me. I sit still with my eyes scrunched close, waiting for the Raiders to surround me. But it doesn't happen, and I manage to slide to the ground in relief (making sure to avoid Tin cans and trolleys as I did so).

After that, I manage to make it out of the main area, and into a smaller passageway, splitting off into two doors. One door leads to a toilet block, and the other goes to a room that's blocked off from the outside. I guess it must have been a deli, or something, before the supermarket was taken over bthese people. There's a refridgerator in the corner, which I open to grab the first piece of food I can lay my hands on, a box of macaroni. I hear a snort behind me, and almost have a heart attack from fear, but the source of the sound was a sleeping man, who had collapsed underneath a set of shelves, and empty bottle in his left hand. I timidly head towards the door, keeping my eyes on the sleeper the whole time. That's why I manage to run into the wall with the back of my head.

Rubbing the back of my head, and dropping the box of macaroni into my new black bag, I keep progressing around the edge of the Supermarket, hoping the Raiders dont notice me skulking around their base. I manage to make it to the next passageway without making any more noise, or tripping any traps. I cautiously walk down the corridor, and turn the corner...and find myself staring at Raider's back. I freeze up, unsure of what to do, so I get to watch in horrified fascination as the Raider lights up a cigarette. I stand perfectly still, as the Raider yawns out loud, closing his eyes for a brief second. I take my opportunity, and dash into the open bathroom, making as little noise as possible.

"Huh, bloody rats..." The Raider mutters, apparently hearing the patter of my feet against the tiles in the bathroom. I wait for the Raider to pass on, and collapse in a heap on the floor; I'm an absolute nervous wreck. This whole thing has probably taken ten years off my lifespan. And, since I'm in a bathroom, I take the time (after checking that there weren't any raiders within earshot) to clean the piss off my leg, from wetting myself when escaping the last raider. Discarding my filthy underwear, I continue onto the room the Raider had been standing in front of. It wasn't open to the rest of the Supermarket, So I had a bit more freedom with what to do. Nothing was interesting in the room itself, but there was locked door. Obviously, I didn't have the key, but I had a hair clip (something that Moira had insisted on me wearing, claiming that it went so well with my red hair. I made a note to thank her for that) which I could untwist and use to pick the lock. Honestly, it was even easier to break open than the Overseer's office had been.

Behind the locked door, there was a box full of ammunition and medicine, along with some drugs. Theres no reason to leave it for them, so I pile the stockpile into my bag, putting everything into a proper pocket to prevent it from rattling around. I close the door quietly, and move out into the still empty corridor. I jump when I hear the front doors being flung open, and I hide in the bathrooms once again, which prevents me from making out the shouts of the people who've just arrived.

After a few seconds of sucking in air, and marshaling my stores of confidence, I start moving back into the main part of the store. I debate about whether or not to go all the way around, or straight through the middle (the exit being directly opposite to me), before deciding to risk the middle so that I can get out of there fast enough. I start to weave between the rows of hard plastic shelves, ducking down to make myself as hard to see as possible. I make it about halfway before I run into a pair of sharp, high heeled boots.

I look up at a scarred girl, probably about my age, or even younger, staring down at me with a smirk on her face. She's wearing armor made of scraps of leather, spikes of bones and a ring of beads stitched onto the shoulder. She's fingering a long sharp knife, and I involuntarily take a step backwards.

"Well," she hissed (and it was a hiss. Something must have been wrong with her voice), "What have we here?"

Throwing all caution to the wind, I spring up from my crouch, barreling the girl out of my way, and running up the slanted Shelves. I jump from one to the next, dashing at full speed. I'm very fast, even If I cant run for long, and by the time the girl had raised the Alarm by shouting out, I'd made it halfway to the Exit. I dived down between the shelves just as the bullets start flying, and I take a bullet in my right shoulder, rather than one ripping through my torso. The adrenaline and the gut wrenching fear dull the pain, and I keep going on. I reach the open space between the door and the Aisles, Bullets thankfully missing all around me. These Raider's would never classify as crack shots, and for that I'm eternally thankful. I dive straight through the door, smashing the glass, rolling as I land.

I cringe as the glass shards dig into my back, but they don't hurt too bad with all the adrenaline running through my body. I run as fast as I can towards the rocky outcrop that I'd perched on before moving into the Super-Duper Mart. Good for more than just dulling the pain, the terror and adrenaline give my feet wings, and I jump behind the rocks before my pursuers catch sight of me. I lay there panting, my whole body outstretched. I wait for a few moments, before finally letting out the laughter that had been building up in me since I burst out that door_ I did it, I survived!_

"Ya didn't kill anyone, why?" I jump up in shock, pulling the pistol from my bag, and pointing it at the familiar shape of Jericho, who was leaning against one of the buildings pillars, cleaning an Assault Rifle with a dirty cloth. He doesn't look up, presumably not caring that I'm pointing a gun at him

"I'm not going to kill people, just because they're in my way..." I mutter. Just because I'm out of my comfort zone, doesn't mean I'm going to throw away a lifetime of morals.

"If ya could stay unnoticed any better, I would've understood that, but ya were bumping into walls and stepping on their alarms the whole time! If they hadn't been stupid fucks, they'da killed ya like that" He snaps his fingers, a scowl on his face "Ya should have killed them"

We both stay silent after that, and Jericho keeps reparing his gun, replacing it on his back when he's finished. I lower the pistol, and sit on the rock. I wince when the pain from my injuries catch up with me.

"Lets go kid, time to get back to Megaton" He says at last, and we take off towards the hills. He walks slowly, making sure to match my speed. I'm grateful for the company, in a way. At least he doesn't bring up what he obviously considers weakness of not killing anyone. As we walk, I notice the shape of one of those two-headed cows, lying dead on the ground. I gesture for Jericho to come over and look at it, cringing in pain as I use my injured shoulder on instinct. He unholsters his weapon, and starts investigating the cow corpses. He turns his head back to me, looking incredibly worried.

"What's wrong, Jericho, you've gone all pale"

He gestures for me to duck down "Brahmin herds getting killed when there's no-one to look out for them isn't uncommon, but these three didn't get killed by an Animal. They didn't get eaten, which means some fucker killed three Brahmin, and that's not something your common raider does" All the time he's saying this, he pushing me towards the rocky outcrop to the side.

"So what, someone killed some two-headed cows, whats the big deal?" He looks at me like I just said the sky was green.

"Brahmin are the lifeblood of the wasteland; without them, no one could survive out here. For a Wastelander to kill one, its unheard of. Even Raiders tend to stay away from 'em, since they know how important they are." He quickly looks over the top of the outcrop, scanning the area, before dropping down again "So, if the sick fuck who killed those Brahmin is still around, I don't particularly want to meet him"

He darts to the next outcrop, and I follow him in this manner, despite the pain. By the time we've reached a cracked and dusty road, with a farmhouse on the horizon, Jericho has relaxed enough to stand up.

"Okay, maybe the bastard's gone" He says, pulling a cigarette from a pouch on his waist "Not that I'm complaining, of course" Jericho leans backwards, stretching. Luckily for him, since a Red Beam shot through the space his head had occupied just a second ago. Jericho rolls backwards, dropping his cigarette, more beams striking the ground around him. I dive to the ground, but get hit by one of the beams. It makes neat whole in my jacket, and I gasp for air as the energy punches a small hole in my thigh. I scramble to back behind the last rock, just as a Robot (?) comes out of the bushes, holding a strange looking rifle in its arms.

Jericho has wipped his Assault Rifle around, emptying Round after Round into the things armor. It barely takes any notice, the bullets glancing off it, and keeps firing its rifle, red beams shooting out of the tip instead of bullets. A small cylinder flies out of the weapons side, and the thing reaches for its belt to grab a replacement. Jericho makes his move, sprinting across to it. He knocks the Rifle out of the things hand with a shove, and dodges out of the way of one metal fist. The thing pushes him backward with its shoulder, reaching for its weapon. Jericho kicks the gun away, and gets pulled over when the thing grabs his legs. He pulls a knife from his belt, sits up, and drives the blade into a gap between the thing's hand and forearm. He scrambles up as the thing -the person?- shouts in pain, and picks up his own gun.

Forcing his Assault Rifle into a crack between the thing's neck and torso, Jericho pulled the trigger.

"Idiot. All that armour, and ya don't know how to use it properly" He manages, panting. He spits on the armor, before kicking the helmet off. Inside is a woman, a shocked look on her face. Jericho picks up the Rifle she'd been using, and grabbed the few remaining cylinders from her belt. He looks up from his looting at me

"Ya know how to use Power Armor" I'm hyperventilating, and can't answer him between my heaving breaths "I'll take that as a no. Lets go, we gotta get out of here before her friends show up-"

"What the hell just happened!" I shout, finally regaining my voice, and calming my breathing "Who was that?"

"Calm down, Kid. I'll tell ya later, but right now we gotta get back to Megaton. I'm not getting involved with the Enclave, especially since you'll obviously be no help" He gestures for me to follow, and I limp after him, clutching the burnt hole in my leg. We continue on in silence, and don't meet anything else.

* * *

"You are out of my care for a single day, and in that time you manage to fracture your collarbone, lodge a .32 round in your shoulder, cut up your back with glass, and burnt a sizeable hole in your upper thigh muscles! Wastelanders..." Doctor Church is understandably ticked off, but he agrees to do his best. He stitches up the wounds the glass made, and uses some sort of salve to treat my burns. He uses some sort of tape to set the bone, hoping that it will heal properly. The bullet has to remain in my shoulder, since he doesn't have any surgical tools that could cut into solid bone, but he does his best to treat the wound itself. He insists that I stay in the clinic for the night, and I end up in the same be I'd woken up that morning on.

At the end of it, I feel slightly worse than I began.

A warning that if I didn't tone it down I would rip the stitches in my back and chest later, I return to Moira's shop, which is above the Clinic. Jericho reaches there before me, and sells the Laser Rifle to Moira for a few hundred caps. Bottle Caps as currency in the wasteland is one of the more _odd _differences from the history books I remember Amata forcing me to read. Jericho goes to stand in the corner, donning a position not unlike the Mercenary who apparently guarded Craterside Supply.

Moira pulls out a notebook and two folding chairs from the mountain of junk that covered every wall, and sits down in one. I sit down across from her, and start pulling the loot I collected from the Super-Duper Mart. Moira pushes them back into the bag, shaking her head.

"You did the job, you get to keep the spoils," She admonishes me, before her ever present grin returned to her face, "anyway, how was it?" She asks, clicking the pen in her right hand.

"Well...there were a lot of people. Raiders. They were using the Supermarket as a base, and they'd packed all the food and medicine into some rooms, um, off from the main area..." I mumble a little, a bit put off by her enthusiasm. She asks a few more questions, and seems a bit puzzled when I tell her I didn't kill any of the raiders. She finishes her questions, and gives me some extra food. After I thank her, Jericho finally speaks up

"Kid, you and me have to talk" He declares, grabbing me by the collar and dragging me outside

"Remember to get me a Landmine!" Moira shouts, and I nod as Jericho pulls me out the door. The gruff Wastelander grabs me by the arm, and I follow him without trying to struggle. He just saved my life yesterday, so its not like he'd hurt me. right?

He lets me go when we leave the gates, and I pull up my Pip Boy's map of the Capital Wasteland, look for the dot reading minefield, and prepare to set off. Jericho stands in front of me, and shakes his head, and gesturing for me to follow him. I stare at his back as he walks around the edge of the settlement, and I run a little to catch up.

"Ya didn't even try to fight that Enclave scout. Do you have a death wish or something" He grunts, his fingers twitching at his sides.

"Enclave? You still haven't even told me what that wa-"

"DO YOU WANT TO DIE" He shouts, pulling a revolver from his side and leveling it between my eyes.

"...no" I whisper, staring at the shaking barrel. I'm petrified with fear. He lowers the gun, and leans in to my face.

"Then why won't ya defend yourself! If that had been anyone else, ya _would _be dead right now. If I hadn't been there to save ya worthless ass from that Enclave shit, ya'd be dead. If ya hadn't been such an idiot, and gotten yourself shot by those raiders, I wouldn't have had to save ya the time" He spits on the ground, and starts walking again. I tremble, and collapse to my knees, whimpering. Jericho looks back at me and sneers

"If that's all it takes to rattle ya, ya ain't ready" He says, sighing. Somehow, I push all the fear and shock to one size, to make room for the anger. He just pointed a gun at me!

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I demand, climbing to my feet again, and pointing a finger at him. He doesn't even stop, and keeps walking. I have to follow him, which hurts my pride, a lot, but I catch up to him "What is your _problem_"

He pushes me against the metal walls of Megaton, and I'm starting to see that yelling at someone who just pointed a gun at me is probably the worst idea I have ever had, ever "Ya my problem, Vaultie. I risked my behind to keep all those things killing ya, and ya turn out to be fuckin' useless! Ya could have killed those raiders, and made this shit hole," He gestures around him, "a marginally better place. Ya could have killed that Enclave bitch, but ya hid"

"They didn't deserve to die! They're real people, with friends, fami-" I begin, but he cuts me off

"You don't know shit! Raiders are the lowest of the low, they're the worst parts of humanity condensed into one group. They don't deserve to live" He shoves me to the ground, and I pull myself up on a rock, the anger still burning.

"I'm won't take a life for no reason, you bastard. Everyone deserves a chance" I mutter, but he still hears me. I stare at him, my face scrunched up, and my fists balled

"Raiders wasted their chances a long time ago, Kid" He mutters, turning his eyes away from mine. The flame of Anger and Hate burns itself out, and I sit down on one of the larger boulders, all the adrenaline from our confrontations draining out of my body.

_Clunk_

Jericho and I meet eyes again, but this time its surprise, rather than anger "Rocks don't make that sound, do they?" I ask. Jericho rushes over to the structure, and I scramble to my feet. He raps his fist against the rock, and then kicks it. He digs his fingers under the lip of the rock, and flips it over. Underneath the hollow shell of the rock was a large, silver case. Jericho kicks the case to me, and drops the rock. I pick it up, slightly confused

"Keep it" Jericho shrugs. I put the Case down on the rock and flip it open. Inside is some padded foam, holding a syringe, 5 bullets and a long barreled Sniper Rifle. On top of this is a folded note, which Jericho grabs out of my hand and scrunches up.

"Hey, that could have told us who that belonged to" I protest, and consider doing something. However, I'm extremely conscious about how close he just came to killing me, so I decide to let him do what he wants.

"Nope, it couldn't have, because it belongs to you now," Jericho grins, "You found it, its your loot." I nod reluctantly, and pack the disassembled Rifle into my Backpack, along with the Ammunition. Handling guns is still a weird feeling, but Moira's horror stories haven't lost their effect on me; I can see the appeal of this thing. Jericho buries his face into his palms when he sees my squeamishness.

"Look, kid, ya have what it takes to be one of the best Wastelanders alive, but ya aint gonna go anywhere if you don't toughen up." He puts both his hands on my shoulders, and I freeze. I might owe Jericho my life, but he was just as ready to take it back a second ago "I don't want you to get killed by some two-bit raider with an axe to grind, and you're not ready. Just stay here in Megaton, learn what you need to learn. Going out there, in the Wastes, is suicide"

I push his arms off me, and shake my head "I need to find my Dad, Jericho, and I promised Moira I'd help her finish her Guide" I turn, and start walking in the direction my Pip Boy prompts, leaving Jericho behind me. I'm just about to cross over the hill and out of sight, when...

"Kid, wait! Let me go grab my things"

"What?"

Jericho winks at me "Can't let ya go alone. Besides, a little suicide is always fun"

* * *

The sun is bearing down on us overhead, as we progress slowly through the wastes. Once again, the readout on my Pip Boy doesn't quite equate to the actual distances, and Jericho and I had been walking for hours. Jericho isn't much of a conversationalist when travelling, and he's barely said a word since we left. He's walking slightly ahead, with his Assault Rifle slung over his back casually. He's walking at a steady pace, eating up the distance with a steady rhythm to his footsteps.

I, on the other hand, am struggling. I'm breathing heavily, and the heat is taking its toll. I'm sweating, a lot, and my loose shift has plastered itself to my skin, and I've had to tie my hair back into a knot at the back (something I never liked doing in the vault, because Amata always told me my hair looked better when I let it down). The weight in my backpack seemed like nothing when I started, but now its like I'm carrying rocks, rather than food and a sleeping bag. And 'my' newly acquired Sniper Rifle.

After we crest another hill, I run out of steam, and collapse into a heap on the hot sand. Jericho stops, and sits crosslegged against a rock, taking out a worn and stained cloth, and starts cleaning his rifle. Never a moment wasted with him, apparently.

"We'll need to work on that. Can't have ya conking out when you've got a Deathclaw breathing up your neck" He says, not even looking out from my task.

I poke my tounge out at him, and dig my water bottle out of my pack. The water tastes like metal, and burns my throat on the way down. I spit it up all over the sound, dropping the bottle and clutching my throat. I can't form even form words, but my gag reflex kicks in, and I puke up the contents of my stomach on the ground. Jericho just laughs

"You've only drunk _purified _water before, haven't ya? The alternative packs quite a punch" I wipe my mouth of the bile, and cough a bit

"What the hell was that?" I splutter out, still clutching my throat, and kneeling forward.

"Irradiated Water. Even after two hundred years, the rivers, the lakes, maybe even the oceans...they'll still break a Geiger Counter if ya put it near enough. Better get used to it" He goes back to cleaning his gun, while I strip off the now vomit-covered jacket, and toss it off. The brown shift I'm wearing underneath is fine, if slightly sticky from the sweat, and I just pull it away from my skin. I end up just discarding the jacket, throwing it on the ground. I pick up the, now only half full, water bottle, and stare at it briefly before taking another agonising sip. Thirst is more of a priority than discomfort.

We start walking again, until we finally reach a break in the featureless dunes. The sand and earth had built up against a concrete wall, sloping down as the wall ended. Over the Wall was a massive complex, full of broken and rusting metal. I take a step back, unsure of what I was seeing.

"keep moving kid, I want us out to get out of the Ghost Town we're heading to, before the we run out of daylight" Jericho mutters, jumping down into the scrapyard.

"Are you afraid of Ghosts, Jericho?" I crack, dropping down after him. He gives me a serious look, and I feel really uncomfortable with the expression he's wearing

"Whatever, or whoever, lives in that town, its been keeping people out for years. If I have to fight it, I'm doing it while the sun's still up" He then turns away, and starts walking towards a hole in the wire fence around the scrapyard. I take a deep breath, and wait for my body to relax. Jericho might have saved my life, but he also threatened to take it away. I've known him for two days, not nearly long enough to poke fun at him, or even to trust him. I know him better than anyone else in the wasteland, but he's still a stranger to me.

Suddenly, I hear a sad whimpering coming from behind a pile of wreckage.

"...What's that sound?" I mutter

Jericho turns towards me "I didn't hear anything" He says, dismissing me, before resuming his slow stride to the hole in the fence. He jumps over the prongs and bends it down with his boot, gesturing for me to walk through, a smirk on his face. I hesitate, and head towards the noise "I gotta check this out" I yell at Jericho, who sighs and reluctantly follows.

Around the pile of wreckage, I find an indent between the buildings, and a scene of carnage amongst the car wrecks. Three bodies that have been savaged and wripped apart are lying around a fourth body, of a man with two bullet holes in his jacket, and a shocked look on his face. A dog is crouched near the dead man, whimpering softly.

"Hey, doggie" I murmur, slowly approaching the animal. It continues to whimper, and licks the dead man's face, mostly ignoring me.

I reach for the dog's collar, twisting the metal disc to face me "So your name is Dogmeat, huh?" He turns his head at the sound of the name, and I tentatively pat his head, grinning a little at the name. I haven't seen many animals, but Dog's being Man's best friend is something that even a Vault Dweller like me knows "Was he your master?" I ask, nodding towards the man. Dogmeat continues to whine sadly, so I keep petting him, and sit down beside him.

"I know how it feels to lose someone you love" I muse, staring at the dead man's surprised expression "and to lose your home, and your best friend..." Dogmeat licks the palm of my hand, and I giggle at the feel of his tongue. I climb up again, a sad smile on my face.

"Nice, ya spilling your secrets to a dog" Jericho mumbles from behind me, and I turn to see him taking armor, weapons and food from the corpses littering the ground.

"What the hell are you doing!"

"Look, your new here, ya don't know how the wasteland works. They are dead, they have stuff that's useful to us, so we're gonna take it" Jericho deadpans, grabbing a bloodied knife out with one hand "Besides, its not like they care" He pockets the knife. I don't even know how to respond to that, so I just storm off. I walked back to the hole in the fence, jumped through, and started walking.

_Aruuu_

I spin around, and see Dogmeat attempting to climb out of the knee height hole in the fence, whining mournfully. I laugh, anger at Jericho forgotten, and run back to help lift the grey dog over to this side. He wags his tail when I put him on the ground, and tries to lick my face. I dodge out of his tongues way, and sit by his side, and stare as the sun makes it's way down to the horizon. I can remember two separate days since I was forced out of the vault, and I was on that hospital bed for a few days, apparently. Two days, and I've done all sorts of fun things like being shot at, trekked across a barren countryside, and by the looks of it, acquired a dog.

"C'mon, Kid, we're wasting time" Jericho grunts, walking past me with the same economic stride he'd used all day. I pull myself up, and start after him. I've been away from home for a few days, and my feet ache, my back hurts, and I'm trying to find explosives because a redhead in a blue jumpsuit told me to.

I have a feeling that its just the beginning.

* * *

Author's Note for this Chapter and the previous one are in my Profile.

Thanks to Mafia-Maori-Spartan, ghostchild606, jetflight girl and Platinum Knight for Faving this story or putting it on their Alerts


	3. Alpha

After leaving the scrapyard where we'd found Dogmeat, it had taken very little time for us to start walking again. The distance had seemed so meagre from looking at it on my Pip-boy's map, but it had neglected to show the multitude of hills and slopes between the two. It had taken us twice as long as Jericho had estimated, and my leg's ached. Between our group of three, the only one who could really be said to be happy was a dog.

Finally, the town Moira had sent us to was within sight, and we'd at last be able to get what we'd came for…and then trudge all the way back to Megaton. My good mood quickly evaporating, I starting slouching along the road that led into the empty town.

_Beep. Beep. BEEPBEEPBEEP-_

"Get down!" Jericho crashed into me with a running tackle, pushing me out of the way just in time to avoid an explosive blast coming from where my foot had been about to tread. As we landed, Jericho rolled right off me and bumped into a faded billboard, long since fallen from its stand, and now leaning against a rock wall. I brushed some dirt and bitumen off my chest, before shakily climbing to my feet. Jericho had recovered faster, and was already up, looking down the scope of his Assault Rifle, scanning the area.

"Careful, Kid." He warned, still scanning the area around us.

At last he lowered his weapon, and signalled that we should start to proceed. By now, I'm worried enough about the mine I almost stepped on, and the possibility of there being more, that I can barely take my eyes of the ground in front of my feet. Dogmeat matches my slow pace, and he's lost whatever good mood he had in the seriousness of the situation. We reach the "gate" into the town, two cars moved into the form of a crude barricade, without another incident. I jump onto the bonnet of one of the old, rusted automobiles, and take a quick look at the town beyond.

"Oh…"

Jericho climbs up onto the opposite car, and when I look at his face I can tell he shares my sentiment about the sight we can both see. The town is literally covered in grey-green disks: Landmines. Without exchanging a word, we both back off a few steps.

"What was that?" I ask, completely shocked, "Why would anyone rig up those mines like that?"

"Looks like they're only on the main street…" Jericho mutters under his breath, ignoring me, "…those side paths might be an option…those wrecked houses..." Jericho picks up a stone from the ground and tosses it over the two cars. I duck, covering my face with my arms, waiting for a huge explosion to rip through us, but it never came.

"…bit of space between the cars and the mines…" Jericho keeps muttering to himself. Finally, he gestures for me to follow, and slides between the gap between the cars. I tighten the straps on my shoulder bag, and propel myself over the roof of the car, placing a hand on each bonnet before jumping over.

Now in Minefield proper, I take a more detailed look around, focusing on more than the Landmines this time around. Most of the houses were in the same state of disrepair that is common in most of the wasteland, but a few looked to be still standing, even after all this time. I stood on my toes, trying to see through the windows of one of the closer houses, but I couldn't see anything. On the ground in front of us, the amount of mines was huge. I could see at least five within ten metres of my feet, and I start to get some shivers going down my spine thinking about the explosives.

Dogmeat decided that this was the perfect time to follow the two of us into Minefield, and he walked right into the back of my legs, and I almost tripped and fell on top of the closest landmine. If Jericho hadn't grabbed my arm as I fell, who knows what would have happened. I breathe out a sigh of relief, and allow myself to slide down against the car door, my feet sliding towards-

_Beep. Beep. BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP_

I start in both fear and shock, and kicked the offending mine away from us. It smashed into one of the debilitated houses, smashing a rotted support beam before exploding; Jericho takes this all in hisstride.

"So, they're proximity mines…that makes this difficult" He continues to mutter for a while, before finally turning to give me his thoughts "Okay, here's the plan. We can't go on this road, so we either hug the houses on that side, or we go around the town and see if the other end of this road is as rigged up as this. We haven't got much time before sundown, and I'm not staying here longer than we have to…" He looks west at the setting sun, which is slowly going down over the horizon.

"We won't have time to check the other end, and I don't want to be here in the dark either; and not just because of Ghosts like you" I reply, and we start edging towards the houses. Dogmeat is surprisingly subdued, and he sticks close to my leg, well away from the mines. Jericho makes sure that we're pressed against the wall of the house before we proceed, and we start to slowly move further into the town.

Despite all this, we still manage to trigger another one of the mines, which had been placed on the corner of the house, just out of sight from the cars. Jericho pushed us back to avoid the blast, only to arm two more. The blast from these two mines knocked us forward, and I could feel the heat searing my skin through my thin singlet. As we climbed to our feet, the now familiar beeping sound started once.

"Run!" I shouted, and we both start bolting forward, trying to outrun the furious explosions happening behind us. I catch sight of a slide and swing set as we run – The playground Moira has told me to find! I changed direction, and was barrelled over by plastic fragments of a lawnmower, propelled by one of the blasts behind us. Clutching my ribs in pain, I stumble over to the play equipment. Jericho obviously saw me fall, since he and Dogmeat had both managed to get here as well. All three of us had sustained some manner of injury from our death run, and Jericho had already sat on one of the swings, and was peeling off strips of melted leather from his back.

"That could have gone better" I wheeze. After shambling from the spot of ground I had collapsed on, I move onto the slide, cringing when my burnt back met the cold metal. Jericho grunts noncommittally. For the next few minutes, all I can do is try to get my breath back, but my mind is working fast. I promised Moira I'd retrieve a Landmine for her, but at the rate we we're going, they'd probably all explode. And besides, how could they collect one if they exploded whenever they got near them?

My thoughts were interrupted by the most unwelcome sound; the booming sound of shots being fired.

Jericho moves into action immediately, pulling his Assault Rifle from his back in one smooth motion, and rolling to the side to avoid fire.

"Stay low, it's coming from a building behind you" He shouts, desperately trying to fire back. After the third attempt at returning fire, he tossed the jammed rifle to the ground, and pushed himself further back into the wall of the house. By now, the unseen sniper was concentrating his fire on me. The slide was currently holding, but the dents in the metal slope showed clearly that it wouldn't last for much longer. Dogmeat was nowhere to be seen, but the returning sound of explosions gave a clue as to what the dog had decided to do.

I looked at Jericho, a pleading look in my eye

_Do something, please!_

Frozen with fear, I watched as Jericho tensed, before breaking into a sprint across the playground and onto the street. Immediately, the shooter changed targets, leaving me alone and concentrating fire on Jericho.

"SHOOT HIM!" Jericho screamed as he ran, ducking and weaving across the street we'd only just ran across. I fumbled with my shoulder bag, pulling out the barrel and scope of the sniper rifle and assembling as quickly as I could, conscious that the longer I took the longer Jericho's life was at risk. After it was assembled, I dug into the pack to find the bullets, only to drop all but one onto the ground because of my now shaking hands. Loading the single bullet into the rifle, I tried to calm myself.

I slowly moved myself over the top of the slide, and took aim through the scope.

Jericho was dancing like a madman across the square, rolling and tumbling to make himself as hard a target as possible. I looked past him to the building, or what was left of one, directly ahead of me. The concrete walls of the building had mostly been destroyed, leaving nothing but pillars and a single staircase separating the mostly intact second floor and some barely noticeable roof from the ground.

Crouching amidst those ruins was an Old Man, holding a rifle just like the one I held in my own hands.

I only had one shot; I needed to make this count.

My finger was on the trigger.

* * *

Time seems to stop for me. I'm still looking down the sight, the crosshairs meeting over the old man's chest.

I'm still pressing my finger down hard enough to depress the trigger, but not enough to fire.

I'm…I'm not sure if I can do it.

_You've done it before. Remember Mack?_

But that was different…he hurt Amata…

_I don't think it's that different at all. He needed to die, just like this man needs to._

No, no, no…that's different…Amata made it different…I can't…

_Of course you can. Amata would have been fine, but you killed for her. Right now Jericho could die, and only you can save him. _

But…but-

_Is it worth Jericho dying? Is whatever excuse you have worth the only friend you have out here?_

…

_There's only one choice you can make, isn't there?_

I squeeze my eyes shut.

* * *

The sound is the thing that I first notice; I'm too numb to feel the recoil. It's very loud, much louder than the pistol was. The bullet hit true, and red blossomed out of the old man's chest as he tumbled backwards. All I can do is throw the Rifle down in disgust.

Jericho sags to the ground in relief, and starts laughing. I slowly slide down the metal slide, and let tears stream down my face for the man I killed. By now, Jericho has found his way back over to the playground, still visibly relieved about his continued survival. But, when he sees my tears, his smile turns to one of confusion.

"What the fuck are ya crying about, Kid?" He asks

I look away from him a little before answering "I just killed him, Jericho. I saw him go from a living, breathing human to-"

I reel in shock from pain and surprise. Jericho had slapped me across the face, a look of pure rage on his face.

"Now ya listen to me, because I'm only gonna say this once; Toughen the fuck up! Whoever that old fucker was, he was trying to kill us." By now, Jericho is shouting at the top of his lungs "He was trying to kill ya, he was trying to kill ME! All you did was do the same thing he was trying to do to us, what the whole damn wasteland would do to us if we gave 'em the chance. So don't ya fucking dare mourn for him!"

I step back, shocked, before slowly walking away from Jericho, who stood stock still, watching me. I turn and start running.

Before long, I'd found Dogmeat. Like I thought, he'd gone running towards the Sniper, and set off a lot of the mines on his way, one of which had destroyed a Car. Dogmeat had been pinned by the front fender, which had become embedded in the rotten wood of a nearby house. I started trying to dislodge it, and free my dog. I labour fruitlessly for what seems like hours, until Jericho arrived.

The grizzled wastelander watched my attempts, before joining in and providing the strength to remove the fender from the still mostly intact wall. I fall down to my knees and start hugging my dog to my chest.

Jericho sighs and I make a point of not looking at him.

"Look, kid, ya've got to get over this. Killing is part of living in the Capital Wasteland, and if ya can't learn to deal with that…well, ya might have potential kid, but all the potential in the world won't save ya if ya aren't willing to…" He trails off, before turning to walk away. He throws a disc over his shoulder, which lands next to me

"It's a deactivated Landmine. They're a bitch to get close to, but easy enough to turn off" He mutters, and then starts to wander away. I pick up the hunk of metal, and held it up to in front of me. I don't know how to feel…I end up just putting the device into my pack, and I start walking back to the playground.

Its already too dark to see properly, but I manage to locate my Rifle and the bullets by feel, and dissemble the gun, before putting it all into my shoulder bag.

"Dogmeat, take me to Jericho" I murmur, but the old dog must have good hearing, because we caught up with the Wastelander quickly. He'd already made his way out of minefield, and was heading back the way we came. I try to match his pace, and he nods a little.

"I'm not spending the night there, there are still some mines that haven't gone off, and after having a look in the houses…Its best if we get moving" He says, not even looking at me. I appreciate that last part, because I don't know if I'd be able to look Jericho in the eyes if it came to it. We walk in silence, with only the meagre light of my Pip-Boy to see with.

My body keeps up the pace without the interruption of my mind, which is too busy thinking about all that's happened to concentrate on walking.

I can't stop thinking about Jericho, and whether I should be grateful or afraid of him. Without him, I'd probably be dead by now, but he scares me. I don't know what to feel, wether to trust him, or to be scared by his presence. Dogmeat licks my palm, which had been hanging at my sides, and I perk up. I'm living in a harsh world that I don't understand yet, and I've got people helping me through that. If I want to find my Dad, I need to learn how to live in this world, and…and…I don't know. I have no idea where Dad has gone, or if I'm doing the right thing trying to find him. The note he left for me made it clear he didn't want me to follow him.

I don't know what to do…

By now, we'd passed the scrapyard we'd found Dogmeat on, and detoured around it to get back on the path we had followed on the way here. It was starting to rain, and Jericho was getting increasingly anxious.

"What's wrong?" I shout to him. A droplet of rain touched my skin, and I flinched in pain. The water burned, just like the water I'd drunk had burned earlier today.

"That's what's wrong, kid" Jericho shouted, and stood still, looking back and forth between the scrapyard and the distant overpass. Seemingly making a decision, he started to sprint towards the towering bridge. I struggle to keep up, my lack of fitness again making a problem for me. We have to run through the burning rain for almost a minute, until we at last reach the closest part of the bridge. I collapse in relief, but Jericho stands stock still, halfway between pulling his Rifle from its shoulder strap. I look past him to a group of raiders and wastelanders alike, all pointing some sort of weapon in our direction.

"No one dies tonight" one of the Raider's says, before they all lower their weapons, "Come morning, when the storm passes, you'll be fair game again, but for now…now we gotta wait for the rain to stop, and me and my boys don't want to spend tonight killing to stay under cover" With that, the group of Raider's move back a few steps, leaving Jericho, Dogmeat and I in the company of the three Wastelanders.

I quickly learn why everyone is huddled under the bridge; Rain Storms are rare, but incredibly deadly. The irradiated water burns at a touch, and anyone caught out in the open either dies or goes through intense, crippling pain. It's also, they told me, the time "Feral Ghouls" are most likely to wander the surface, since not only are they unaffected by the nuclear rain, it heals them and makes them stronger.

I'm not sure whether they're joking about the last part, and I'm not quite sure I'd like to ask what a Ghoul is, either.

After eating a quick dinner of tough meat, Jericho pulls me away from the wastelanders, and starts setting up his sleeping bag at the far end of the bridge, with the wastelanders in the middle, and the Raiders opposite us. It's clear that just because these people are being amiable, Jericho still doesn't trust them one bit.

"I'll take first watch" Jericho whispers to me, and promises to wake me in a few hours to switch. I fall asleep as soon as my head touches the makeshift pillow.

* * *

The next morning, the encroaching sunlight is what wakes me up. Jericho is still asleep, propped up against the same concrete pillar he'd been watching from. Sleep had claimed him, just as it had me.

The other two groups are gone.

Within an hour, we had left the Overpass as well, and rather than our original route, we'd decided to cross the river immediately. This part of the river was much deeper and wider than our first point of crossing, and we had to briefly swim. The water wasn't nearly as painful as the rain had been, but my whole body still stung when we reached the other side. Jericho didn't speak the whole time, and I didn't know what to say.

Half a day later, we'd arrived back at Megaton, and it was certainly a sight for sore eyes. I even hugged Weld, the bizarre robot stationed outside the gate.

Returning to Moira, and handing over the mine, had been awkward with Jericho hanging silently over my shoulder. He only spoke up after I'd told Moira all I could about Minefield, and she'd told me what the next task was going to be

"Radiation! You're going to tell her to nuke herself!" Jericho grabbed Moira by her lapels, and a mercenary leapt from the corner and placed his rifle at Jericho's temple. Both parties slowly backed off while Moira continued

"Oh, it will be perfectly fine, you silly billy. As long as she comes to me as soon as she's been irradiated, I can easily…well, sorta easily at least, _un_irradiate her" She crooned.

"Not happening" Jericho snarled, "If you want to find out what happens to people who stand in green sludge all day, do it yourself" Even as he spoke, he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out of the shop. Moira has a disappointed look on her face as we leave. Jericho starts leading me down the metal walkway, but I dig my feet in.

"What now?"

"Why didn't you let me do the next test?" I ask

"It's too dangerous" He grunts, and starts walking again. It isn't the same stride he'd been using out in the Wasteland, and I'm able to easily keep pace with him. I punch him lightly on the arm

"You _do_ care about me" I sing flippantly, and he smiles a little.

* * *

Soon enough, I've dumped my pack in Jericho's house. He'd insisted that I stay with him rather than in the communal sleeping area, and I had reason enough to agree after seeing the alternative. Jericho only had one bed, and I had no idea what he was expecting, if he was expecting anything, that is.

"I'm going to Moriarty's," Jericho informed me, "Feel free to explore…or something" After that he'd left, heading to one of the higher buildings. I'd stayed in his house for a few minutes, before leaving. I told Dogmeat to stay there while I went out.

There really wasn't much to do in town. It was very much just a place to…exist in. Most of the residents didn't want to talk to me, and there wasn't any form of entertainment to speak of. I'd finally found myself on a stool outside "The Brass Lantern" listening to an old priest standing in a puddle talking about a bomb.

"Excuse me, miss, but I don't think we've been formally introduced" I almost jump out of my chair, at the sound of the unexpected voice. A black man wearing a duster with a wide smile on his bearded face had taken the seat next to me, and I hadn't even noticed.

"Sorry for scaring you, my name's Lucas Simms. I'm the sheriff around these parts. Mayor, too, when there's a need for it." He looks around furtively, before whispering "Don't tell Moriarty, though. He thinks _he's_ the mayor"

I laugh, and shake the hand that Simms had offered "My name's Ashlyn. Up until a few days ago, I lived in a Vault"

"I know, I was one of the guys who helped carry you here from Springvale," Simms replied, "That was some bad business. I hear you've fallen in with Jericho?"

"Yeah, he's helped me out with a few of Moira's-"

"Oh, don't tell me Moira's roped you into writing that guide with her, has she?" Simms laughs, and pats me on the back "My condolences"

His attitude is infectious, and soon enough I'm laughing along with him. Eventually, the topic of conversation turns to the bomb in front of us.

"Ah, yes, Megaton's pride and joy. I've been trying to move that Bomb out of her for years, but the Church of the Atom- them being the ones in robes gathered around that there puddle- keep refusing. Most of the others seem to forget about the danger of having an undetonated warhead sittin' in the middle of your town." He sighs, staring wistfully up at the stars which are slowly becoming visible in the twilight "And no one here has the know-how to turn the bloody thing off"

"Well, if there's a toolbox I could borrow, I could have a look at it" I suggest "I used to be a Mechanic back in the vault, maybe I could do something to help make it less dangerous?"

Simms looks contemplative for a few minutes, before saying "If you don't know what you're doing, I want you to stop, you hear me?"

I nod, and he agrees to take me to see Walter, an old man who was in-charge of keeping the town in good repair. When we arrive at the Water treatment plant, Walter was busily running back and forth, adjusting the pressure on the pipes with a large Spanner and plenty of elbow grease. Simms decides to take this as his cue to leave, and he wishes me good luck.

"Um, excuse me, my name is Ashlyn, I was just wondering whether-"

"Get to the point, girly, I'm busy" The old man snapped at me, tapping a gauge with the spanner and scowling.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I ask, taking a quick peak at the piping. It's old and rusted, and some of the rivets haven't remained in place. Deep in the bowls of the plant, I can hear an angry hissing sound.

"The best thing you can do is ask whatever it is you came here for and then leave" Walter shouts, before running down a set of stairs to get to one of the lower levels.

"Um…I was wondering if you had some tools I could use." I shout down to him, where he was desperately pulling on a set of levers that looked like they'd been cannibalised onto the system from a truck.

"In the corner there's a spare toolbox. Take it and leave" He bellowed, before he was engulfed in a burst of steam. Soon enough, however, he'd waved away the cloud of superheated air, and (looking a little redder) continued working. I decided to leave him be, and took the Toolbox he'd pointed out with me as I left.

I sat down in the puddle, and the priest stopped his sermon to watch me work. The tools were in horrible condition, especially the smaller pieces. Out of all the many items, only the Hammer, Pliers and Screwdriver were in close to working condition. I was astounded at Walter's negligence. He obviously hadn't kept these clean, and because of that the majority of them were useless now.

I laid out the ones I would need, pushing the otherwise useless metal box away. Peeling off one of the Bomb's panels, I set to work.

* * *

Jericho was sitting at the bar morosely. He'd had to sell a good portion of the loot he'd gotten from his run with the Kid, but he'd cleared his Tab, and they were serving him again. That was good.

He took another swig of whiskey, and stared at his own reflection in the amber liquid. He drank all that was left in a single gulp.

"Another Drink, Gobby" He shouted, and the Ghoul reluctantly poured out another glass. Jericho wasted no time in taking a sip.

"You seem unhappy," Jericho turned to see the suit wearing burke taking a seat next to him, "Surely you have nothing to be unhappy about. You've acquired a protégé, and gone on a presumably exhilarating adventure with her"

"Fuck off, Burke" Jericho muttered.

"Oh, it seems that you are simply discontent. Perhaps the old memories of your Raider days are catching up with you? Or is it simply the town? None of the people here quite trust you, do they, and it is obvious that you have no real love for any of them. Perhaps you are the person I'm looking to do a job for me…" Jericho looked at the slimy businessman, and barely restrained himself from punching him.

"I think ya must have misheard me before, but I told ya to fuck off!"

"I can offer you five hundred caps up for your assistance, as well as safety for both you and your young lady friend-" This time, Jericho didn't hold himself back, and floored the business with a roundhouse punch. The businessman pulled himself up, using the countertop as a support, a shocked look in his eyes.

"Ya can shove your caps, Burke!" Jericho yelled, before stumbling out of the bar in a drunken stupor, not even waiting for Moriarty or Gob to ask him to leave.

He'd spent hours in the tavern, putting his near-indestructible liver to the test, and it was already dark when he staggered out the door. Heading towards his house, he heard a rhythmic chanting coming from the area around the bomb. All of the Church members had started filing out of their common room, and were slowly surrounding the undetonated nuke.

"Whatever, some ceremony or something" He slurred, before noticing something unusual. Simms and the Stahls had started to fight their way through the crowd of believers to get to the bomb too. Sensing something was up, he made his way down to the group as well, and pushed his way to the front.

Ashlyn was slowly crawling out of the bomb crater, visibly paler than she'd been when he last saw her.

"She is well loved by Atom!" one of the church members shouted as he pushed him out of the way to get to the girl. She was trembling, and Simms had picked her up and carried her away from the crowd. Jericho and Andy Stahl followed, and Simms lay her down on the Brass Lanterns countertop

"I…deactivated…the bo…bomb….Simms" She mumbled, tossing back and forth on the table. Jericho put his hand on her forehead, and recoiled at the heat she was giving out. She flailed at his touch, and started to gag.

"Andy, go get Doc. Church" Simms instructed, and tried to keep her from shaking herself off the table. Jericho didn't know what to do, and the copious amounts of alcohol he'd consumed had him close to falling over as it was. By now, the whole town was moving into the square, attracted by the chanting of the Atomists.

Moira Brown made her way to the table they were on, just as Church and Andy arrived.

"What in the world happened?" Asked Church, "Has she been bitten by something?"

"I don't know," Simms replied, "She was trying to deactivate the bomb, and when she'd finished she was like this"

Moira put her head to Ashlyn's chest, and then lay her hand across her forehead, just as Jericho had earlier. When she spoke next, she had none of the usual chirpy tone in her voice, nor the happy expression on her face

"It's almost like she's suffering from Radiation Poisoning" The general store owner said, before slinging the girl over her shoulder.

"What are you doing" Church shouted as Moira started walking towards the metal walkway "She can't have Rad Poisoning, she doesn't have nearly enough exposure-"

"She's a Vault Dweller" Jericho interrupted, "She wouldn't have any level of resistance to Radiation!"

By now, Moira had almost gotten to her store, and Jericho pushed past Simms and ran to catch up with her. As Moira opened the door to Craterside Supply, Jericho grabbed her arm

"Can you save her?"

"I'll do my best" Moira said solemnly, before shaking him off and going inside. Through the door, Jericho watched as the eccentric woman threw Ashlyn onto a work bench and pulled out a strange looking device. The mercenary Moira had on payroll took this opportunity to close the door in his face.

* * *

"…your fault that she's like this, you bit..."

"…nd you want me to pass this golden opportunity to research the effe…"

"…'m sorry, kid, I shouldn't have left you alon..."

"…ell her, I'm grateful. Give her this when sh..."

"…please…don't die, Kid…"

* * *

My eyes feel sticky, and my whole body aches. I slowly open my eyes, and prop myself up on. I'm on a bed, and it's not uncomfortable. Looking around, the room I'm in is fairly small. There is a desk and a closet; they're packed very close together, and there is a wooden door slightly open in front of my eyes.

I'm only wearing a (clean) singlet and panties. What is it with me and waking up with substantially less clothing lately?

I slowly take a step out of bed, and wince when the metal floor creaks. I open the door and creep down the hallway, finding a set of stairs leading down. On the ground floor of this unfamiliar house, I try to get my bearings-

"**Good Morning Madam! It is excellent to see you finally awake!"** I jump in surprise, and fall over a wooden table, knocking it over. A robot had floated up behind me. It looked like Andy, Stanley's helper back in the vault…

"**Mr Jericho will be arriving shortly, Madam! He normally visits at around this time!" **The robot's booming voice interrupts my thoughts, and it shoos me off the table, before righting it with a gripper arm. I'm rendered speechless when it picks up a feather duster from the floor, and proceeds to dust the walls.

"Kid, what the hell are ya doing up?" I turn to see a stunned Jericho, who'd just walked through the door carrying a canvas bag. He drops the bag, and catches me up in a hug "Ya had me so worried"

"What happened" I gasp out, and Jericho lets me down. He starts leading me back up to the bed I'd just gotten out of, but I grab onto the railing. He doesn't even try to pull me along, and just looks at me in frustration

"You got pretty damn sick from fixing that bomb. The Radiation spike when you turned it off hit you pretty hard. Moira ended up saving ya with one of her inventions…but there were some complications…" He mutters that last part.

"Jericho, what happened!" I growl

"Something she did…well, it changed ya a bit. Next time ya look in a mirror, ya'll probably get a nasty shock about how pale ya are now"

"That's it?"

"Well, no…Ya body is starting to metabolise Radiation now. Moira thinks that it'll mostly just increase the rate ya heal at normally, but we have no idea what it'll do if you get as much exposure as you had before" Jericho sounds a bit embarrassed, and started rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

I decide to just let that all pass out of my mind for now, and mentally process that later. I mean, what are you supposed to do when something like this happens?

"C'mon, Kid, ya need to rest still. Mutant freak or not, ya can't just walk off Rad poisoning" He pleads, and I let him pull me back towards the bed I'd just gotten out of. I skulk back under the threadbare covers, and Jericho moves to close the door. Just before he leaves he pokes his head back around the corner

"Are ya going stay in here, or do I have to get Wads to guard the door?"

"Who?"

"Tell ya later, after ya get some more rest" Jericho grins, and I scowl as he closes the door. I bury my head into the pillow, and tried to calm myself down enough to sleep. Jericho had a point about the recovery thing, because I still feel like a giant bruise right now. After a while, I start to drift off into sleep.

I dream of home.

* * *

And...Scene.

Hey guys, sorry about the length of time between updates. But, unfortunately, Real Life is more important than Fanfiction. I'd been planning on writing and posting at least four chapters before school started this year, but my computer did the unthinkable and broke. By the time it had been replaced, I needed to focus on Schoolwork instead. But, because I didn't want to study for a Math's Exam, I wrote this for all the people who seem to be enjoying an Archive Binge and left Alerts and Reviews for me. When I fail, it'll be your fault (Jokes, I'm actually just really bad at Coordinate Geometry and Algebra). I've still got another few weeks till School Holidays, but thats when I'll be able to do some proper writing (and video gaming, too).

Thanks to vicatron, sonn4jam3, Douglas14141, Disus, Nerdman3000, grim reaper 15, Zero-Vision, mttwmchl, Pyro212, Bale626 and especially Fayneir (who put me down for everything, including a review) for putting me on your Alerts or Favourite lists. This is for you guys.


	4. And

The week I'd spent under house arrest had been horrible. Both Church and Moira had agreed that I needed to recuperate, but neither really knew how long for. People who got as sick as I had normally didn't recover, and the ones who did normally took years to do so, and Church had insisted that I spend a month, at the very minimum, in his care. Moira, confident that whatever genetic abnormalities I'd developed from her treatment would speed up the process, and that I could be released much earlier.

I'd settled the matter by sneaking out in the middle of the night. I had no particular reason to do so, other than boredom. There was nothing to _do_ in Megaton, no jobs, no entertainment. My original impression of the town was largely correct, it was just a place for people to be safe and out of the troubles of the wasteland. The town wasn't alive, there wasn't any activity. People just walked around aimlessly, waiting for the next disaster or event to happen. I absolutely hated it.

That night I walked all around the town, I climbed rooftops, I jumped across the Walkways…and I noticed the pipes. They all stemmed from the Water Processing plant, and went all around town. Part of the structure that kept the higher houses from collapsing was the interweaving pipes. Some of them were leaking, and all of them were rusted. Before I could do anything about it, Simms had caught me leaning over one of the railings, and brought me back to the house – my house. Simms had been very pleased with me deactivating the bomb, and had given me the house I now stayed in as a gift, along with a modest sum of caps

But, because of my midnight escape, my time as a patient had ended. Doc Church was satisfied I'd recovered enough to be independently mobile (and had muttered something about crazy vault dwellers), and Moira seemed thrilled that whatever she'd done to me had helped me to recover so quickly. I still wasn't allowed to do anything strenuous, but I could walk around outside. Jericho's first request was that I tell Dogmeat it was okay to leave his house, because the dog hadn't budged since I'd asked him to stay in there the day I'd disarmed the bomb.

Now, I was making my way to see Walter about the pipes.

"I haven't got the time to do maintenance the pipes, young lady, not right now" The grouch snapped at me, his head under a boiler he was frantically welding back together, "The whole plant is fallin' to pieces! No one else in this town knows the first thing about this sort of equipment, an' I ain't got the time to teach 'em" By now, the old man had left the boiler behind, and had started recording figures with a piece of chalk on the metal walls.

"I was an apprentice mechanic, before I left the vault" I shout over the sound of another burst deep in the bowels of the plant, "I could use some tools- the ones that aren't rusted to within an inch of their lives, preferably- maybe I could help out"

Walter ignored me, and jumped down a flight of stairs, heading towards the disaster, shouting out in pain when he landed badly. He must have been incredibly negligent to let this place get to the state it was in. His practices were inexcusable. Stanley would have cried, had he seen this "mechanic".

Walter had left everything he'd been using when he'd ran into the cloud of steam, and they were all in better condition than the things he'd lent me. I swap the two around, and make my way out. That's what he gets for letting his spares get in such appalling condition. I'm not being vindictive, that would be silly. This is simply me showing pride in my profession.

Fixing the damage to the piping quickly proved to be impossible, since much of the problem stemmed from the metal itself. It had rusted horribly, and very little maintenance had been done to keep it in good shape. In the end, I'd pulled apart my house, and stripped large portions of the walls to replace the more critically damaged pipelines. Hammering them into the right shape had been a challenge, but Wadsworth had been keen to help. It was almost like having Andy back. I wonder how those guys were doing…

Reminiscing aside, I'd finished the replacement pipes quickly enough, and put a stop to large sections of the pipeline while I swapped them out. These new ones wouldn't last very long, but they would last longer than their predecessors would have, all things considered. Dogmeat had been surprisingly docile while I did this, actually, and had just sat and watched.

After I'd finished replacing the more suspect areas of piping, I moved onto dealing with the pressure issues. I had to manually adjust some of the valves, just to stop them spitting steam into the air, but most of the problem stemmed from the Processing Plant. I'll have to go talk to Walter about the way he's been maintaining these…

As I worked on one of the "spitting" pipes, a Blonde woman wearing a leather vest approached me with a nervous expression. I ignored her, too busy trying to get the valve in the right position to pay much attention, and she settled down next to Dogmeat, with an interested look on her face. After I'd finished, she finally spoke up

"That looks really complicated"

"I...I guess," I replied, a bit uneasy. She nodded sagely

"It probably would be. You're really good at it though"

"Thanks" I start to stand up, but she grabs my arm. My hand goes straight to the pistol strapped to my waist, and I draw the weapon quickly, but she backs away with her hands prone; even to a Vault Dweller, her sign of surrender was plain.

"Calm down! I'm not trying to hurt you or anything, I just need to talk" She begs, desperately. My mind suddenly catches up with my body, and I throw the gun away in shock. I wouldn't have threatened anyone like that, not back in the Vault. That wasn't like me at all!

"My name is Lucy. Lucy West" The girl says, lowering her arms slowly, "I didn't mean to scare you"

"I'm Ashlyn. Sorry about…" I rub the back of my head sheepishly

"Not a problem," She replies, grinning. "So, how about that talk?"

* * *

I took Lucy to sit down on the wire chairs that had found a home outside of the house I'd been given, and the two of us had sat down opposite each other. Lucy was very pretty, with sandy blonde hair tied up in a ponytail and porcelain skin. But, the 10mm at her waist and the combat boots were enough for me to believe she was more than just a pretty face, but then again, anyone who survived out here would have to be. I apologised again for almost shooting her, and she brushed it off with a wave

"It's something you get used to out here," She laughed, "I won't hold a grudge. But, there is something you can do for me"

"What?"

"The trade caravan's haven't been in a while, and they're pretty much the only way of getting news out here" She says, rambling, "And, well, you're probably going to be leaving town soon, and if it's not too much trouble…"

I roll my eyes a little, and grin "What do you want me to do, Lucy"

She beams, and hands me a letter "I want you to take this to my family in Arefu, if that's not too much trouble"

"Well, I guess so, if I can get Jericho to agree-"

"You'll have no trouble getting Jericho to leave town" Lucy assured me "He hates being in Megaton for more than few days"

"Seems like you've planned it all out" I say jokingly "I'll deliver the letter for you, Lucy. Promise" I offer my hand for Lucy to shake, and she laughs. Jericho saunters towards us as we do this, and Lucy stops smiling, and turns her head away.

"Well, it was nice talking to you Ashlyn, but I've got to go now" She mumbles, before hurrying away. I wave goodbye awkwardly. Jericho falls into the seat Lucy had just vacated, and swings his Legs up to rest them on the table

"What's with her?" He asks, and I can only shrug, just as confused. I explain about the letter Lucy had asked us to deliver, and he made a show of not wanting to do errands for her. But, just as Lucy had predicted, he was really happy to be leaving town, just as I was. Within an hour, we were walking out the scrap metal gates of Megaton. As they closed, I looked back at the town and the half-finished repairs on the pipelines, and felt a nagging feeling of guilt that they were still in that state. Then the gate slid shut, and I banished it from my mind; it wasn't like it had been my responsibility to fix them.

* * *

After leaving Megaton, Jericho had taken us overland, and unlike the route we'd taken to the Minefield, this was a lot more rugged and harsh. Instead of a river and mostly flat land, we'd been treated to Rock outcrops and hills. After passing Megaton's water tower, the landscape levelled out a bit, and we'd followed the remnants of a road. Without warning, Jericho had left the road behind, and we'd once again started travelling cross country.

I was becoming accustomed to Jericho's silence when we travelled, as well as his mile eating stride (something I was starting to adopt myself). I didn't try to engage the Wastelander in conversation, instead trying to take in as much of the still unfamiliar landscape as I could. As we walked through the bleak cliff faces, I could see empty spaces and dead trees way off into the horizon, along with the destroyed buildings that made up the skyline. Even as we travelled, the sheer lack of life bothered me. From the few vault records I'd seen (or, to be more accurate, been shown by Amata) it had been nearly two hundred years since the vaults had been sealed. Had life on the outside stagnated, just as Vault 101 had?

Jericho insisted that we stay close to the rocks, rather than walking into the open, and chastised me when I tried to make my way towards another set of ruined houses.

"As long as we stay near cover, we can go mostly unnoticed" Jericho told me, and pointed out a small blur in the distance. I unpacked my Sniper Rifle, and used the scope to check the area he had pointed out. I saw a pink mole-like creature chasing a scavenger, until a second creature cornered the petrified man, who was then pulled to the ground. I looked away, feeling horrible.

"We don't want to end up like that unlucky sod" Jericho had muttered and I, speechless, nodded. I put the fate of the scavenger out of my mind, and we continued. Jericho's route under the shadow of the rocky outcrops led us underneath a bridge, and once again, the Wastelander erred on the side of caution, taking us underneath the disused overpass, clambering over the piles of mortar and concrete that had fallen to the ground in clumps, before we reached a much more open area. There was still the occasional protrusion of rock, but none of the cover we'd stayed in up to now. I looked to Jericho, who seemed to be scanning the area himself, and waited for him to decide how we proceed.

Jericho eventually started moving again and quickly darted to one of the bluffs, gesturing for Dogmeat and me to follow him. We continued like that down to the point where the ground levelled out, and we reached a road similar to the one we'd taken earlier that day. Finally, the bridge-town we'd been travelling towards was in sight. Still far away, but at least it felt like the Journey was almost over.

"We'll follow the road" Jericho murmured, "There's better cover than if we just made our way over the flats"

"Where'd all this 'cover' stuff come from? You weren't this worried on the way to Minefield"

"I didn't feel worried then. People who trust their instincts tend to survive out here" He retorted, before moving slowly along the cracked road.

Soon after, we reached a smaller bridge, and the sense of unease that Jericho must have been feeling settled on me as well. Looking around, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, although one of the ever present wrecked houses that stood on a rise to our left caught my attention. Outwardly, nothing was wrong with it, but _my_ instincts told me to distrust it. Jericho raised his arm, signalling for me to stop, and he started edging forward. I followed Jericho, moving as silently as I could, and we both looked over the edge of the shattered bridge together.

And saw three Raiders lying in wait below us. They all raised their guns at our surprised faces.

Jericho sprang into action, pushing me back against the barrier and pulling out his Assault Rifle at the same time. The raiders below the bridge had already started shooting, and the bullets _ping_-d against the cement, sending fragments shooting everywhere. Jericho's shove had pushed me back into another Raider, who had managed to get behind us. The tall man was holding a Tire Iron menacingly, and I rammed into his bare chest with my shoulder. We both stumbled, and rolled away from each other. As we stumbled away from each, I noticed more movement in my peripheral vision.

From behind a rock, a woman carrying a long metal tube attached to a gas tank on her back was running towards us. From her heavy cloth padding and the small tongue of flame flickering from the end of the tube, it became quickly obvious just what to expect from her.

The Tire Iron wielding man lunged at me in my moment of distraction, and I blocked a blow from the steel rod with my arm, and felt something shatter in my forearm. The two Raiders surrounded me, and Jericho was too busy dealing with his three assailants to help me. I was going to die. I would never find my father, I would never get back home, and I would never see Amata agai-

_No!_

A rush of Adrenaline surged through my body, and I pivoted around the clumsy swing of the Raider, grabbing onto his outstretched arm to guide my body's arc around him. Pulling into a headlock with my injured arm, I focused on the other one.

She promptly fired a gout of flame at us both.

I quickly pulled the larger raider in front of me, so that his body would shield me from the flames. Only the arm that was held around his neck was in the path of the fire, and I screamed as my skin burned, but the Raider's own howls of pain drowned out my own. The massive rush of chemicals through my body helped me to push the agony to the side, and let me capitalise on the one advantage I had; it was my left arm that was burning.

Pulling my pistol from my waist with my right hand, and throwing the burning raider to the ground, I aimed as best I could, and emptied the clip into the Female Raider's Head. Even as she fell, I dropped the gun to the ground, and tore my burning jacket from my body, clenching my teeth to stifle my screams. My left arm was burnt up to my elbow, and it radiated agony throughout my body. I could barely think, could barely stand, but I knew that I had to stay alert. I put the reality of what I did out of my mind, and painfully bent over and picked up the Tire Iron, before hobbling over to help Jericho.

The Wastelander had managed to kill one of his opponents, and was engaged in a Melee with the second. I moved over to the third, who'd been knocked away by Jericho, and was lining up a shot with his pistol, and swung the blunt instrument into the Raider's neck. He stumbled, and the shot went wide, and I hit him again before he could start shooting at me. This time, the blow caught his head, and he fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, Jericho had overpowered his opponent, and stabbed the man in the chest. He got up, panting, and looked over at me, grinning at our victory.

"Holy Shit, what happened to ya hand?" Jericho shouted, recoiling when he saw my arm. I was sweating, struggling to cling to consciousness, and I couldn't maintain my grip on the weapon. I let the Tire Iron slip through my fingers and clatter to the ground.

"Go and m-make sure there aren't an-ny others" I spit out through clenched teeth, my knees starting to buckle as the adrenaline rush wore off. Jericho ignored me, instead rushing over and pulling me behind the bridge. Once we we're behind cover, Jericho grabbed the burnt limb and looked it over, ignoring my renewed screams.

"Oh Fuck" Jericho muttered, pulling a roll of Bandages from his pack. He was interrupted by another volley of shots, chipping the concrete of the bridge. I couldn't see, but I knew they must be coming from that house (Dogmeat's bark coming from that direction helped confirm this theory) I'd seen earlier.

"Go!" I pushed Jericho away with my good arm, but he stayed rooted on the spot. After an instant of indecision, he pulled my pistol from its holster and replaced the spent clip with a new one, before dropping it in my lap and dashing off towards the shots. I picked up the weapon, and held it tightly.

As my heartbeat slowed, I knew that I wouldn't be able to stay conscious for much lon-

* * *

When I regained consciousness, Jericho and Dogmeat had returned and were sitting nearby. My left arm was wrapped in Bandages, and I felt pleasantly numb. I noticed that Dogmeat was bleeding from his side, and Jericho was nursing his hand.

"I'm not a doctor, so all I could do was bandage ya up. Hopefully we can get someone to look at it when we get to Arefu" Jericho murmured sadly. We sit in silence for a while, as I slowly slide myself upright against the wall of the bridge, flinching when I used my injured arm. He tosses me my Pip-Boy, and I'm momentarily shocked that I even missed it being on my arm.

"The skin it was attached to got burnt to shit and it slipped off when I tried to move ya" Jericho explained, and I looked at the wrist computer in awe. Over the years, I'd been told just how tough these things, but this just proved it. Aside from a bit of soot, you couldn't tell that the wrist-computer had just been on fire. I slipped it over the bandages, and thanked Jericho. He was silent for a few moments. Suddenly, Jericho leapt to his feet and shouted.

"Fuck, I hate raiders" Jericho fumed, "Maybe the Super Mutants or them Enclave pussies are a bigger threat, but do ya know who the worst people in the Wastes are? Fuckin' Raiders" He pointed at the bridge he'd moved me from violently to empathise his point.

I don't know how to respond to his outburst, so I just say silent. He grunts at me, before starting to trudge onwards, but not falling into his normal stride. He was limping, and he cringed in pain every few steps.

Carefully making sure I didn't use the injured limb subconsciously, I pushed myself to my feet and started to follow Jericho. Evidently, he'd decided that following the road was a bad idea, and we were walking cross country instead. I kept my arm tucked into my stomach, trying to ignore the sting of the bandages on the crippled limb.

Even with us both moving much slower, we'd reached the foot of the Bridge quite quickly. The towering bridge cast a long shadow over us, but neither of us was in an admiring mood. Even still, I noticed the small house by the foot of the bridge, with a broken fence and two Brahmin corpses lying in the paddock. Jericho's words before we'd been attacked by the Enclave rang clear in my mind _For a Wastelander to kill one, it's unheard of. Even Raiders tend to stay away from 'em, since they know how important they are…_

We started to clamber up the bridge, which had fallen under the same hardships as all the previous structures I'd seen. Large segments of it had collapsed, leaving it standing only partly because it had collapsed upon itself. Wooden boards had been used to close gaps, but even standing on the edge that was still firmly on the concrete was too scary, and I jumped the miniscule distance rather than trusting them. It didn't take us long before the houses of Arefu were within sight, even with Jericho's newly acquired limp.

Then an old man threw a Grenade at us.

"Whoa, sorry about that stranger!" The old man shouted at us, after we'd been knocked down by the explosion "Though you was one of them"

Jericho hobbled up to the geriatric bridge guardian, his fists bared, but backed off when a Rifle was pointed in his face.

"I'd recommend you calm down, stranger, unless you don't like having a head" the old man threatened, and Jericho raised his hands in surrender, snarling indignantly. I caught up with him, and the old man slowly lowered the rifle, reluctantly gesturing for us to pass.

"So what business do you two have in my town?" He asked, keeping his gaze on the path up the bridge. Jericho snarled at him.

"We're here to deliver a letter" I replied, and Dogmeat barked in agreement "Lucy West sent us"

"Lucy? I ain't seen that girl in years!" The Old Man laughed, "Well, if Lucy sent you, you're alright in my books. Name's Evan King" He still didn't take his eyes off the road in front of him.

"Look, King, we ran into some trouble on our way here. Does this piss-shit town have a doctor" Jericho growled at the old man, who looked at him contemplatively. Eventually, he nodded

"The West's are the medic in Arefu, but I can't take you to them. They live in the last house, although I haven't heard from them in a while…"

"What do you mean you haven't heard from them? There aren't even five houses on this bridge! How could you not fuckin' hear from anyone!" Jericho shouted, the old man's demeanour clearly rubbing him the wrong way. I put my hand on Dogmeat's side, in an attempt to get the dog to stop growling.

"Ever since the Family started raiding us, I've had to be on the lookout. I'm the only one in town who can handle a gun, and everyone is scared to death. No one comes out of their homes anymore, because I can't guarantee they're safe" The Old Man didn't raise his voice, just stated matter-of-factly what had happened here. Jericho just spat on the ground, and limped away muttering under his breath.

I followed the angry Wastelander, reluctantly, as he left the solitary bridge guard at his seat and barricade. Passing by the weather-beaten shacks, I caught glimpses of movement from the windows, the scared faces that caused them disappearing when I stopped to take a closer look.

The last house wasn't actually very far away from Evan King's self-appointed post, and the bridge itself ended almost immediately after. Jericho stamped up to the doorway and smashed his fist against the rotting wood three times, releasing a cloud of dust from the hinges. Other than that, there was no response.

Jericho knocked again, louder. The Wastelander looked at me briefly, before barrelling into the door, finding no resistance from the damp wood. Picking himself up, he gestured for me to follow him in.

We found the rotting corpses of two people.

"Nasty…" Jericho muttered. I took a moment to get my gag reflex under control, before moving in to get a better look, earning an approving nod from the Wastelander. Dogmeat whimpered, and remained outside. Jericho gestured for me to check the bodies, and he started to ferret among the shelves and dresser. I scowled, before covering my nose with my injured arm and moving closer to look at the bodies.

My eyes watered as the smell managed to reach my nostrils, and I noticed the bodies had bite marks all over them, especially around their necks.

"Jericho, it looks like something tried to eat them" The Wastelander froze at my words, before moving to my side and inspecting the neck wounds himself, poking at them with a gloved finger.

"Aw shit, it's like stumbling into Andale all over again…" He got to his feet, and started pulling me out the door "No animal nasty enough to kill these two sods coulda climbed up that way" He gestures to the missing segment of the bridge behind us "and King might be an asshole, but he's not incompetent enough to let something in on his end. Which means that it wasn't a _thing _that killed those two, and ripped their throats out with their teeth." Even as he says this, he's leading Dogmeat and I back towards King's checkpoint.

The old man briefly turns his eye towards us, but sets his rifle like a drawbridge when Jericho tries to leave "Sorry folks, I can't in good conscience let you leave during the night" He drawls, pointing at the rapidly descending sun "Did you find the West's alright?"

"They're dead" I reply, my voice breaking a little (Jericho rolls his eyes)

"What…How?" King seems just as bemused as we are, and he even stops looking down the bridge to turn his attention on us.

"Someone bit their throats out, King" Jericho answers roughly, as he sits down against the Bridge's barrier, obviously not wanting to fight the Old Man just for the right to leave into the night. King is shocked to silence for a while, and returns his gaze to the entrance to Arefu. Soon enough, I join Jericho in leaning against the Barrier.

"If you two are to be staying tonight, is there any way I could convince you to help with the watch." King asked hopefully "I always feel so nervous about letting my guard down at night, especially right now." Jericho grunted agreement, and I nodded as well. King's face lit up in a smile, despite the grim news we'd given him.

Soon enough, King and I had struck up a conversation. Jericho had decided to stay silent, and had picked up King's habit of watching the road. I was starting to appreciate how much better the citizens of Megaton had it, compared to the people who lived in small towns like this one. At least in the metal town, you had the security to feel boredom. According to King, in places like Arefu it was more often a case of short, fatal bursts of excitement.

* * *

Jericho had once again let me sleep through my watch, and I woke up before either of them. King hadn't wanted to return to his house, and had stayed sleeping on his barricade, and Jericho had slumped to the ground where he stood, still clutching his Assault Rifle firmly in his hands. I kicked off the itchy blanket they had laid over me, and tried to stretch out my aching back muscles. My left arm was numb, which I was thankful for, and the Pip-boy had slipped off again during the night. As I moved to pick it up, I heard a chuckle and froze.

"You are a hard woman to talk to"

I turned quickly to face the voice, my arm patting the ground without any input from me, searching for my pistol. I looked up at a suit-wearing man with tinted shades sitting on the side of the Bridge, holding my pistol in his hand. He grinned nastily, and spun the weapon around his finger

"Don't worry, I'll give it back to you when I leave, I just wanted to make this conversation a bit more…civil" The man said, and I slowly got to my feet. I contemplated waking Jericho and King, but my gut feeling was to keep as quiet as possible, at least until this man doesn't have my pistol in his hand.

"My name is Burke, and up until very recently, I have been putting my efforts into the removal of a blight on my Employer's morning view. Or at least, that's the official reason. However, thanks to you, I have failed in these efforts" I tried to gauge how far away King's Rifle was, and wondered if I could get to it before this Burke could fire. Then I realised just what it was I was planning to do, and took a small step away from the weapon.

"Does that mean you're here to kill me?" I ask, worried. I slowly edge away from the suited man, trying to make it to the rubble behind me. Burke just chuckled at my question.

"No, I am not here to kill you, just to give you warning. After all, you had no knowledge of my Plot, so I will exact no retribution for disarming Megaton's Bomb" I flinch, and Burke moves ever so slightly closer to me.

Burke laid my Pistol down on the ground behind him, before straightening to his full height "No, I won't kill you, but you have piqued my interest. I will be watching you, and you'd do your best to remember that" He kicked out at the Pistol, sending it skidding towards the edge. I lunged for the 10mm, catching it before it went over the edge, and rolled back to my feet. I scanned the length of the bridge, but Burke was nowhere to be seen.

I straightened as well, holding the pistol loosely in my hand. Now that Burke had disappeared, I was able to think about what had just happened. Burke had threatened me, and I'd looked around for ways to kill him…It hadn't been very long, but I was already changing from how I'd acted back home in the Vault. And I'm not sure whether I like what I'm changing into. I brooded for a little while longer, until Jericho woke up.

"Why the long face, kid?" He asked, after he'd finished yawning

"Its…nothing" I reply, deciding to keep my encounter with the strange Mr Burke to myself.

Later, the problem of dealing with the West's bodies came up. King insisted that someone stay on the barricade and keep watch, despite Jericho jeering about his Paranoia. Even so, the Wastelander had agreed to stay on the lookout while King and I buried the bodies. He lent his injured leg against the top of the Barricade, and started to clean his Rifle. Dogmeat assumed a spot in the sun and fell asleep.

As we walked through the town, I noticed that the movements in the other two houses on the bridge were more frequent as King walked by. King himself looked guilty when he noticed these looks, and stared down at his feet.

"Are you okay, Mr King" I asked him, and he stopped walking and looked at me with a sad look on his face

"I've failed this town, Miss. I might be a good deterrent in case anything nasty comes up the road, but I can't keep the people here safe. That I didn't even realise the wests were dead is proof of that. Maybe if I had some others who knew how to handle a gun I could protect Arefu, but I don't" The old man's voice didn't waver, but it was easy to see how much this pained him. I didn't know what to say, and we continued on in silence.

We entered the West's house in silence, and started the grim task of moving the West's bodies. King mumbled a prayer for them under his breath, something that made me feel slightly odd; I've never been a religious person. As I dragged one of the bodies out the door, I noticed something about the shack we were in.

"Mr King, why are there three beds, if there's only two bodies?" I ask, and King looks at me with a raised eyebrow, before shrugging.

"Well, their son Ian lived with them, but he left town two days ago. Come to think of it, he was in quite a hurry…" King looked at me again, this time curiously, and I felt my brain whirring. Well, if Ian doesn't know about this already (although, I bet he does), I felt like I needed to tell him. Even if he does know, I still want to talk to him. And besides, I still had Lucy's letter to deliver.

We continued dragging the bodies of the Wests down to the flats in front of the bridge, and King and I took turns digging out a small patch of dirt near the abandoned hut near the foot of the bridge. All the while, I kept trying to quell the thought that Ian had run from Arefu because he was responsible for his families' deaths.

Finally, we laid the West's bodies into the small grave we'd dug, and filled in the soil. King stood in silence, and I kicked the dirt awkwardly. I waited till we returned to the Barricade before breaking the silence

"I want to talk to Ian West about this" I say, and Jericho groans in reply "Mr King…Evan…do you have any idea where he might have gone?"

King is still sombre from the 'funeral' and he took a moment to think before answering "I wouldn't know what was going through that boy's mind when he left. I've seen him talking to that shifty bugger from the Family, and he never acted quite right. I didn't know him that well, and I didn't trust him either. I wouldn't know where he'd have gone" King stopped talking, and sat down on the Seat Jericho had vacated, slumping forward. The old man seemed utterly spent, a far cry from the cheerful way he'd acted the day before. Jericho and I shared a look, and we left the gatekeeper to mourn.

"I'm not going to give up on finding Lucy's brother, Jericho"

"Didn't expect ya to, kid" He replied, leading me towards one of the other houses on the bridge. He rapped his knuckles on the door, and almost instantly a face appears when the grill slides back

"Who are you?" The woman asks, her voice breaking.

Jericho ignored her question "We're looking for Ian West, and King doesn't know where he's gone. Any ideas where he'd be?"

The woman unlocked the door, and slowly poked her head out to look at us. She was a lot younger than she'd seemed talking to us through the door, and had light blonde hair "Ian? Davis and Matilda's kid?" I nod in reply

"You're not going to hurt him, are you?" She asked cringing back into the doorway

"Oh, for the love of-"Jericho exclaimed, pulling the door wide open, and grabbed the woman by the lapels of her shirt and lifted her off the ground. She squirmed and started screaming in protest. I saw King bolt up and aim his Rifle at Jericho

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you!" The woman shouted, and Jericho lowered her to the ground. I kept my eye on King, who still had his rifle aimed at Jericho. The woman seemed scared when she started talking "He told me, before he left, that he needed to stay with people who understood him. He talked about the Family-"

"Then where do we find them!" Jericho shouted, grabbing her again. King and I both choose now to intervene, me by pulling the Wastelander away from the woman, and him by opening fire. The bullets ricocheted off the concrete bridge, and Jericho snarled, drawing his own rifle. I jumped between the two, holding my arms outstretched. The woman had already darted back inside her house.

"You've gone too far, Stranger" King shouted "I don't care that you've helped keep watch, you have no right to threaten my people!" Jericho fidgeted a little, and I forced him to lower his rifle. King didn't lower his. Dogmeat was alert, and had moved from his sunny spot to my side. Gesturing for Jericho to follow me, I slowly walked down past King's barricade.

"Seneca Station"

King had returned to his seat by the barricade, and thrown his gun to the side. I turned back to look at the Old Man, who had returned to his brooding attitude, and he met my eyes with a sad look

"Look in Seneca Station; The Family comes from the north…That's the first place I'd look…"

"Thanks, Mr King. I'm sorry about the trouble we've caused you" King doesn't answer me, and I followed Jericho and Dogmeat sadly.

* * *

Crossing the river had been a bother, especially with Jericho's injured leg, but we'd done it simply enough. After the explosive end to our time in Arefu, the Wastelander had been very angry and impossible to talk to, even more so than his usual walking demeanour. I was happy to let him brood.

Despite this, we reached the entrance to the Station quite quickly, and after pulling off the wire fencing that separated the underground from the surface, we descended into the darkness. My Pip-boy proved invulnerable, and I increased the brightness to give us a better view.

Jericho quickly noticed the other light source down here, and we headed for the door with the warm glow of a lamp streaming through the stained glass. Jericho made for his Rifle, something that was becoming increasingly common for him, and kicked the door open. I looked past Jericho at the two inhabitants of the room; two decaying men with shocked expressions on their faces.

"Don't shoot!" One of them yelled, throwing his arms up in terror. He was wearing a stained off-white t-shirt and cracked reading glasses. His skin was a rotting grey, and he had clumps of hair missing from his scalp. I was too surprised at this…thing even being alive to feel sick at the smell of him, which was probably a good thing. Jericho had holstered his Rifle in the Meantime, and walked over to them

"Are you here to steal my secrets?" the one in white asked.

"Fuck no, we're lookin' for someone. Ya two seen a gang that goes by the name 'the Family'?" Jericho asked the two. The one in White looked briefly at his companion, who was wearing green armor with thick plastic plates covering his vitals, before pointing to another doorway

"They promise not to hurt us and we let them use that entrance to the tracks" He explained, and Jericho grinned.

"Ya two ghouls are the most helpful people I've met all day. Much obliged" Jericho grabs my arm, and leads me through the door. Like the previous, it was just a wooden door with a stain glass window, but it led us to another, thick metal door. Jericho dragged it out of the way, providing access to a manhole cover; albeit one drenched in some sort of green goo. I felt strange, lightheated, the closer I stood to it, and felt much better when we dropped through the manhole into a cave. I had trouble figuring out how to get Dogmeat down, but in the end I dropped him into Jericho's arms, knocking both to the ground. The grey and black dog whined and licked my face when I reached him, obviously not comfortable with that particular method of getting down.

"So, how'd ya like ya first encounter with the Zombies?" Jericho asked, as we started to follow the winding trail around the Stalagmites. His limp was making it difficult for him so far, but he was gritting his teeth and matching my pace, ignoring the pain it must be causing him.

"Those two? Well, they were kinda weird…and they smelt horrible, but they were…I don't know, like normal people, I guess" I answer uncertainly, treading over a patch of green, glowing mushrooms

"Then ya've got more perspective than most, kid"

Suddenly, I froze. Lying ahead of us, past the next bend in the trail, was a Brahmin corpse. Jericho hadn't seen it yet, and I turned to give a warning.

Suddenly, something rammed into my back, hard, and I was sent flying towards the cave wall. My Pip-boy, already unsecured, went flying off my bandaged left arm, landing on the ground nearby. The light lit the scene of a large blue-grey creature with Razor sharp claws and a large shell rising up after ramming into me. Jericho moved quick as ever, drawing and aiming his rifle in a single motion. The Crablike creature moved faster however, and charged Jericho before the Wastelander had a chance to fire.

Jericho's Rifle was knocked from his hand, and he was smashed through one of the rocky spikes by the creature. Dogmeat bit down hard on the thing's leg, and I drew my pistol in a daze.

Suddenly, a second creature came into view, its claws raised. Jericho was shouting something, but the sound of the Crab creature he was fighting drowned it out. Without his rifle, Jericho had been forced to draw his knife, which he was trying to push into a gap in the thing's armor. The second one had decided to attack me, and I fired at it hapharzardly. Most of the shots went wide, but two of them pierced its midsection. Not enough to stop it, the creatures swiped its claw across my stomach, tearing the singlet and drawing blood.

I ducked the next swing, rolling towards Jericho's dropped rifle. Grabbing the gun, and fitting the stock into the crook of my arm, I aimed down the sight at the advancing Crab-creature. All the time I'd spent on my makeshift shooting range with my BB gun came back to me, and I fired twice, hitting the thing dead on. It fell to the ground mid-charge.

Meanwhile, Jericho was still wrestling with his opponent, trying to find purchase for his Knife. Before I could lend a hand, the Wastelander braced himself against the floor and pushed hard through the creature's mandibles. The Crab thing flailed, cutting deeply into Jericho's sides with its claws as it died. The Wastelander pushed the things body off him, stumbling as he did so. Dogmeat released his grip on the thing's leg, and bounded towards me.

The stunned Jericho gets up, and I hand him back his weapon, before retrieving my Pip-boy.

"Ya had no qualms about dealing with them Mirelurks, Kid. I'm not even sure if ya the same gal I needed to yell some sense into about a stupid 'no-killing' thing ya had going" Jericho tries to joke, even while holding his arms against his bloody chest.

"They're just animals" I mumble, and start walking on. Regardless of whatever these things –Mirelurks- that attacked us were, we needed to keep moving. I took the lead this time, and Jericho limped after me.

The winding corridor through the Stalagmites didn't last for much longer, and we were met with the collapsed roof, segments of train tracks fallen down into these caves. Without even looking back at Jericho, I started to climb the rubble. So it was totally my fault for stepping on the tripwire.

Two small metal spheres fell from the ceiling, landing on either side of Jericho. To the old Wastelander's credit, he was already jumping backwards when they exploded.

The blast resounded around the cavern, and shards of rock and metal flew in all directions. I was thrown forward by the blast, and I felt a sharp pain as my back was peppered by shrapnel. I fluttered on the edge of consciousness for just a second, before pushing myself back up to my knees. I laughed in relief, and turned myself around.

It was a shock to see that while I'd managed to stay awake, Jericho had had no such luck. The Wastelander was lying prone on the rocky floors, the thick leather plates that made up his armor riddled with holes. He was already bleeding profusely from the Mirelurk's claws, and he had a collection of cuts on his face. I rushed over to the Wastelander, looking for some signs of life.

"C'mon Jericho, you're okay, you're okay" I whisper, my body moving on automatic while my mind broke into panic; _I'm not a Doctor, I can't save him, what do I do!_

Half-forgotten lessons from Dad surface in my mind, and my one good hand searches for a pulse at the Wastelander's neck. The beat is faint, and I can still feel his laboured breathing, but I don't know how long that will last. I use my injured arm to pull Jericho up, holding the much heavier man up as best I can.

"I can't go back, I wouldn't be able to get him up the ladder" I mumble under my breath, looking back at the winding rock path. Dogmeat had somehow managed to escape injury, and was bounding around me, barking worriedly. Jericho's slumped form threatens to pull me to the ground.

I come to a decision; the only way I could get help for Jericho is with the Family, if they're even here. I need to keep going forward. Holding up the Wastelander, I start shambling into the darkness of the train tracks.

The trains themselves still occupy the tunnels, and pushing past the first one with Jericho in toe proved to be very time consuming. Triggering another trap was just the icing on the cake. I felt my foot fall down as it stepped on a pressure plate, and a whirring noise drew my attention to a strange device ahead of me. A flurry of Baseballs flew towards me, knocking the wind out of me when they struck me in the stomach, and knocking me to my knees. Choking on bloody spittle, I forced myself back to my feet, dragging Jericho with me.

_Must keep going…Must keep going…_

The lights in the tunnels were dim, and without my Pip-boy held in front of me, I could barely see the ground I walked on. We passed an intersection, and I kept going at the same dogged pace. Avoiding another abandoned train, we finally reached the end of the tunnel. The exit was closed off, and I had no way of opening it. Frustrated, I turned left towards the gap in the wall-

"AARGH!" Blinding pain went through my body as a bear trap closed on my leg. My scream echoed throughout the tunnels, and I collapsed to the ground, dropping Jericho as I did so. This hurt like nothing, the serrated jaws of the trap digging into my foreleg. I pried open the trap as well as I could with my Right hand, and pulled the torn and bleeding leg out. Dogmeat, whining pityingly, licked the wound through my ripped pants, and I hissed in pain.

I had to put the pain out of my mind, just like I had when my Arm burnt, I had to keep going, had to find help for Jericho, had to…

Black spots formed in my eyes, and I threw out my arms to stop myself collapsing again. Putting as little pressure as possible on my injured leg, I dragged myself up, using the wall to stabilise myself, and slowly pulled Jericho up, resting his weight on my shoulder, and slowly continuing on.

In the middle of the corridor, there was a pink baby carriage, and I couldn't help but stop in confusion

"What the hell?" I grunt laboriously, heading towards it. A babies' cry starts emanating from it, and I reach out to touch it…

_BOOOM!_

The carriage exploded, sending both of us flying back. I clip the side of a wire fence with my good arm, tearing a chunk of skin from the shoulder, and land painfully on the metal train tracks. My head is spinning, and I can hardly think. A trio of silhouettes move into my peripheral vision, and I try to…

Determination will only take you so far. I'm unconscious before I even start to move.

* * *

I wake up in an unfamiliar room, something that has happened far too many times for me to be comfortable with it. I try to take stock of my surroundings, and I notice that I can't see out of one of my eyes. My good arm pats my face, feeling the bandages covering it.

The eye I can see out of scans the room, but I can hardly see anything. It's too dark, and my eyes haven't adjusted. I do notice that my torso is covered in white linen bandages, as well as my right leg. Jericho and Dogmeat are nowhere to be seen. I can't muster the strength to move, and I let myself collapse back onto a threadbare pillow.

It seems like hours before anything happens, and I lie there brooding for all that time. Eventually, a Man wearing a long overcoat, with skin just as pale as mine, enters the room, a self-assured smirk on his face.

"Ah, you've awakened. That is good"

I force myself up to a sitting position, using my elbows to drag myself up on the head of the bed. The man nods at me, but I don't know why. I try to ask him a question, but the sheer amount of them flooding my brain makes it impossible.

"Don't worry yourself, outsider, you are in good hands. I am Vance, and this is my Home. My people found you dying in the tunnels, and brought you here. My wife knows the ways of healing; it is thanks to her intervention that you and your friend are alive" His voice is oddly entrancing, and I feel my body relaxing at his words. Soon enough, I can't hold myself up anymore, and I collapse back down onto the bed again. Vance sits down on the side of the bed, and brushes his hand against my open eye

"Sleep" He commanded, and my injured body obeyed

* * *

I woke up many times, but never for very long. Vance was the one I saw the most during these awakenings, and he seemed impressed at how I fought to retain consciousness each time. Every time I managed to stay awake longer and even managed to hold a conversation with Vance's wife, Holly.

Dogmeat had been allowed to stay in the same room as me, and had assumed a position at the foot of the bed, and growled whenever someone tried to move him.

It took a lot of coaxing on my part before I was told what the injuries I'd sustained were; my leg had become infected, but thankfully, Holly had the experience to treat it before the infection had become serious. She'd also had to remove small pieces of shrapnel from my chest, and had remarked about some of the scars that were already there. The cuts were healing quickly, and even though I had aggravated them trying to find help for Jericho, they weren't serious.

And I'd been blinded in my right eye. I hadn't known how to react to the news, so I'd just stayed silent while they explained it to me. Some shrapnel had caught my eye, dug a hole in the cornea, and burst straight into soft tissue. I was lucky it hadn't gone deeper.

In contrast to me, Jericho was in good shape. The Mirelurk hadn't done nearly as much damage as I'd thought, and his armor had done what it was supposed to when the grenades had gone off, and protected him from most of the damage. Very little shrapnel had actually gotten through. I would have asked more questions about the Wastelander, but I'd been unable to stay awake.

When I next woke up, Holly was changing the bandages on my left arm. I was treated to the ugly sight of my slowly healing burns, and I grimaced. Holly just smiled, and finished applying a dollop of healing cream, before rewrapping it in fresh linen. The motherly woman helped me sit up in the bed, and as I was about to give my thanks, my stomach growled violently.

"Oh" she exclaimed, and it dawned on me that I hadn't eaten since I'd left Megaton, how long ago was that?

"Do you think I'd be able to eat something, I'm starving?" I asked her, clutching my stomach. And, to top of the many difficult things I'd had to deal with while here, that was how I learnt my hosts subsisted on blood. Holly called in Vance, who explained the Lifestyle he and his 'flock' lived, and some of his theories about the how's and whys of their condition. I tried to be understanding, since I was quickly coming to learn that the Capital Wasteland ran on seriously different rules than the Vault I'd grown up in. I agreed to not judge them, and Vance sent Brianna, one of the members of the Family, to find some food for me to eat.

It was still a few days after that before I was mobile again, and I was absolutely ecstatic about it. Leaving the room I'd been recovering in, I was finally to see the rest of Train Station they lived in. It was much bigger than I'd thought, filled with wooden partitions on the top floor. The two escalators led down to the lower floor, where the Family spent most of their time.

After Vance had sent her to fetch food for me, Brianna had become a sort of friend. The sultry girl seemed to be unhappy most of the time, but had brightened up when we'd started talking. The Family was mostly men, and because she had been a prostitute before Vance had found her, she'd continued her trade her. I was a little shocked to find out, but that was how it was. Brianna confided in me that she hated it, but tolerated it to get Caps, of which she had a good stockpile stored. In the end, the best course of action I could think of was to keep treating her the same way. This turned out to be exactly what she needed, and she spent a lot of time at my bedside, just talking.

Right now, she was guiding me through the train station, and introducing me to the others; Alan, a new member of the Family, Karl, who was their shopkeeper, Justin, a carefree guy who'd been mentoring Ian, and Robert, a quiet man who guarded the entrance to the Train Station. All of them were civil, but only Alan was sociable enough to say more than an introduction.

Later, after I'd returned from checking on the still unconscious Jericho, I noticed the blood-stained bowls on the long wooden table. Brianna was once more at my side, and she noticed my discomfort.

"Bri…how do you get the blood?"

The girl turned away, before answering quietly "Sometimes, Vance sends us out in the night, and we find a scavenger, or a raider…we surprise them, and then…" Vance quickly walked over to us, stopping Brianna from finishing her sentence. He waved the girl away, and she nodded sadly.

"You must understand we are not monsters" Vance begged "we simply need to feed ourselves, and if that causes the death of another…it is regrettable, but in a world such as this, one can only look out for those they care about. You would not deny us life, would you?"

I take some time before answering, trying to see it from their point of view, but I can't. I still don't understand the Wasteland, and coming to Arefu only muddled my understanding. I don't know how to feel about this.

"If it's okay, I'd like to see Ian" Vance nods, and the man takes me up to the second level, and leads me to the locked door. Keying in the code, he gestures for me to go in. A young boy is sitting on the bed inside, his head held in his hands, and his legs curled up to his chest. He lifts his head up when he hears me come in, and I gingerly sat down at the foot of the bed

* * *

Evan King hated the nights spent on the Barricade. It was cold, it was lonely, and he still didn't think his efforts provided much more safety than if he was hiding away in his house, on the other side of the bridge. He had just lit the torch he kept on the Barricade, and stared into the darkness. Like always, there was movement down there. There was always something that went _bump _in the night, and the best he could do was help keep it down there, and not up here.

He sat down, his Rifle on his knees and a small pile of grenades at his side. He waited. As the hours wore on, he (like usual) found it harder and harder to keep his eyes open, until finally, he let his head slump forward.

"Excuse me, Sir, would you mind if we had a little chat?" King's head darted up, and he was looking at the face of a man, and the shadowy silhouettes of four others surrounding him.

"You!" King hissed, recognising the face of the Family leader, and tried to lift the barrel of his rifle at the bastard who'd terrorised his town. A strong hand clamped down on the weapon, and King looked at a girl with red-blonde hair, who proceeded to take the gun out of his hands.

"Now, I think it would be best if we talked without you making any rash decisions" The man said, before jumping over the barricade and sitting down on top of it, his Long coat fluttering in the night breeze as he did so "You may call me Vance"

King looked around, panicked, and saw that the other three faces were very familiar; Ian West, and the two Strangers he'd kicked out of town over a week ago. They were both wearing dark leather armor, the same kind that the girl who'd taken his Rifle was wearing. He couldn't even remember their names.

"Now, I want you to calm down, we're not here to hurt you. I'm here to offer you a proposition. Ashlyn here" This man Vance gestured at the girl, whose face was now half covered by a grubby bandage, who gave him a cheery wave "has told me that you are encountering problems with keeping this town safe, and I feel that is simply horrible. My Family and I would be happy to offer our protection for this town, if you were to provide us some recompense"

King looked around desperately, searching for an escape. Finding none, he resigned himself to staying amidst this group "What sort of 'recompense' would you be seeking, Vance" He spat out the name.

"Why, Blood of course" The man smiled, showing his teeth. King found his eyes drawn towards the man's canines. He gulped.

* * *

Jericho, Vance, Brianna and I stayed in the abandoned shack that night and Ian returned to his family house. Vance had asked us to give him some space, to come to terms with what he did, and we had complied.

The next morning, Jericho was insistent that we leave as soon as possible, desperate as he was to leave ("I'm not staying with these vamps another minute, do ya understand me?") and he and Dogmeat were waiting for me to say my Goodbyes. Ian was grateful that I'd delivered his sister's letter, and had written one for me to give to Lucy in return. King was still shaken from the night before, but he was still civil enough to wish me goodbye. I even managed to apologise to the woman Jericho had threatened – Her name was Karen Schenzy.

Finally, I came back to the Shack to farewell Vance and Brianna. The two were bound by their rules to not go out into the sunlight, so they'd had to stay in the shack.

Vance was busy cleaning up the place after its long disuse, but he stopped pottering around when I approached him

"So, I suppose this is where we part ways. I wish you luck in finding your Father, Ashlyn" The enigmatic man told me.

"Thank you, for everything you did for me and Jericho"

"You are welcome. It is nice to meet a human who does not judge so harshly. Remember, if you should ever need a place to recover, or require help, the Family will be there for you" Vance gave me a small bow, and I blushed in embarrassment.

Brianna was waiting for me at the door, and she caught me up in a hug before I could say anything "You're a good person, Ash. Hope the Wastes don't change that"

I'm a little stunned by that last statement, before returning to hug my friend had given me. She broke contact quickly, and let herself slide down against the wall. She wrung her hands together, before looking up at me

"I'll miss you, Ash" The girl said, before dropping her gaze. I knelt down before replying

"Yeah, I'll miss you too. I haven't got many friends, Bri, but you're definitely one of them"

"Am I?" She asked, and when she looked up she had tears streaming down her face "Do you know why I wanted to be your friend? Because I tasted your blood, when we took you to Vance. It was good, really good. I didn't want to be near you, but I wanted another taste, and then…" She started bawling, and Vance put his hand on my shoulder, and told me I should leave.

Jericho was waiting for me, and we started the long trek back to Megaton. His leg had healed under Holly's care, and the small amount of normality in the Wastelander's stride was a comfort. I didn't know how to feel, and Brianna's outburst had left me feeling very odd.

Crossing the flats, after we'd passed the bridge we'd been ambushed at when we'd first arrived, was a surreal experience. So much had happened, in so little time, and looking back on it was confusing. I'd lost an Eye, and for the first time in nine years, my Pip-boy wasn't grafted to my skin. I'd made friends with what could best be described as a coven of Vampires, and I'd met a pair of Ghouls in a train station.

I missed Boredom.

* * *

Whoo! Got it up on time!

Anyway, I'm got two weeks off now, so hopefully we'll be able to start getting some more updates up in the near future. I plan to have _at least_ two done in the by the 1st of May, hopefully more. Anyway, check my Profile for the Author's notes.

Thanks to Greader, Jacquirin, ChianasGeek, EileenMonroe, LeoLupin and Recon 11 for your Alerts and Favourites, as well as Stray Sentinel, Zero Vision, Meishuu and Jacquirin for your Reviews.


	5. Omega

Megaton's metal shell rising over the horizon sure was a sight for sore eyes. Jericho had, like always, been bad-tempered and silent while we walked, but I hadn't let it bother me. I was starting to get some understanding of why the Wastelander acted the way he did, and whatever made him so regretful whenever we returned to the metal town…well, I could relate to feeling regrets.

When we approached the gate, Deputy Weld waved one of his stubby arms at us

"**Wel-come to Mega-ton, Parrrdner" **The Robot's greeted us in a crackling voice, as we passed by it to the reach the town's metal gate.

The town was just as it was when we'd left it, and Jericho made a beeline for Moriarty's saloon. I watched him go, sadly. When he'd woken up in the Train Station, he'd been…a bit freaked out by Vance and the others. I let him go, and sat down on one of the main pipelines, that ran the length of the town, and watched the people bustle aimlessly.

I tired of this quickly, got up, and started heading back to my shack. I noticed that the hole I'd cut out of the wall for scrap metal had been filled in while we had been gone. Sure, it had been filled in with wood, but presumably someone had cared enough to shield it from the weather. Dogmeat and I filed in the door, and I made straight for the upstairs bedroom. I tossed my pack on the bed, and started stripping off my leather armor.

I collapsed back onto the bed; Dogmeat had already curled up at the foot of it. I take a deep breath, and stare at the metal ceiling.

Finally, I pull myself up into a sitting position and start ferreting through my bag. The case I found my Sniper Rifle in had a long crack through the middle, and I opened it up to check on the contents. The detachable parts of the rifle clutter out and the long bullets roll away across the floor, scattering in every direction.

"Dammit" I mutter, before getting off the threadbare mattress to look for them. I reach under the bed for one, and my head connects solidly with the edge of the metal bedspread.

"Arrgh!" I shouted, as I stood up quickly, clutching my bleeding forehead. The bed rocked a little, and my bag tipped over the edge, its contents falling to the ground. On top of the pile was the Letter Ian had given me for his sister, and I picked it up gingerly, still rubbing my sore forehead.

Looking at the mess I'd made, and then back at the letter, I made up my mind "Wait here, Dogmeat"

I left the house in my threadbare singlet and loose leggings, and started searching the town. The sun had long since set, but the candle and lamp light from the houses shone bright enough to see by, so I kept walking, ignoring the odd looks of the few megaton citizens who were still outside. Eventually, I found myself standing outside Moriarty's Saloon, with my arms clutched to my chest in the cold. I pushed open the shack door, and went inside.

The atmosphere inside the pub was grim, and the bright lights contrasted with the dark mood of most of the patrons. I caught sight of Jericho at the counter, drinking heavily. A ghoul was serving him, and I thought I could see a grimace on its face.

"What are you doing in here, Kid," I spun around to find myself face to face with a tall woman wearing a too-small jacket, with faded red hair "especially dressed like that"

"I'm looking for someone," I replied, flashing the letter. The woman seemed unimpressed, and started ushering me towards the door. As we went, she leant in and whispered to me "you need to get out of here before Colin sees you, girl, or do you want a career in whoring yourself out too?"

"What!" I push the woman off me, and the closer drinkers turn to look at me. The woman shrugs

"Colin has a way with making things go his way around here. The only way to beat him at his games is to not play them. And I can tell that if you stay around, he'll drag you into his games. It's your own damn fault if something happens to you because you didn't listen to me" With that, the woman walked away, before climbing up the stairwell. I frowned, before heading over to Jericho. The Wastelander wasn't _quite_ drunk yet, although the sheer amount of empty glasses in front of him revealed that it wasn't for lack of trying.

He inclined his head towards me when I took the stool next to him "Had a run in with Nova, I see" he said gruffly. I just grunted noncommittally, and lay my head on my crossed arms, before flinching when I put pressure on the still-healing burns. I sat back up again, feeling much more cross than when I'd come in.

"Ya'd do well to listen to her, ya know." The Wastelander said humourlessly, as he took another sip of his drink "Moriarty's a snake. Best to not let him get his teeth into ya"

I laugh a little at the theatrics of it all; This Moriarty guy can't be as bad as they make him out to be. The ghoul shuffled over to refill Jericho's glass, and then moved other to me

"What'll it be, Smoothskin?" The Ghoul asked, gruffly.

"Um, just water, please?" I asked, slightly intimidated by the half-rotted man. His frown loosened for a moment, before he moved his head down, until it was on the same level with mine.

"Did you just say…'please'?"

"…yes?"

The ghoul's head moved away from mine, before he thrust out a hand, which I shook awkwardly. Jericho stopped drinking for a moment, and watched curiously.

"Name's Gob, at your service" The Ghoul said, the wrinkled lines of his face forming a smile "You're probably the first person to use their manners that I've met since I left Underworld. You're okay with me" He took his hand back, before pouring a glass of water and placing it in front of me. Murmuring a thank you, I took a sip of the burning water, the liquid searing my throat as it went down. Like always, I rationalised it as slightly better than dying of thirst.

Gob left to serve another customer, and Jericho resumed his drinking. I took another swig of my water, my eyes watering, before I started looking around the bar properly. Lucy was nowhere to be seen, but then again, I hadn't really expected her to be. I was about to turn and leave when I heard Gob slam his fist down on a battered radio.

"Stupid thing's bugging out again" The ghoul muttered, and started fiddling with the antenna. Nova, who'd returned from whatever she was doing upstairs, strode over and slapped the ghoul's hands away from the machine, but not with malice.

"Gobbie, I've told you, it's not the Radio, its Galaxy News. The 'stupid thing' gets the Enclave just fine" She berated the Ghoul, who grunted and went back to cleaning glasses behind the bar. I listened briefly to the fragmented sounds from the battered radio. For a few moments, snatches of a man's voice came through the static.

-_faithful listeners. Have you guys and ga-real trees: brown ba-mewhere right he-A veritable Oasis of gr-ut I'm telling you; it's out there—_

I vaulted over the countertop, and picked up the Radio, examining it. The casing was held together with Sticky Tape.

"Hey, what are you doing, Smoothskin!" The Ghoul Bartender exclaimed, as I sat myself, crosslegged, down on the space the Radio had just occupied.

"There's something wrong with this Radio" I explained, as I pulled the unravelled wire hairclip from my pocket, and started twisting it over and over. Gob looked over at Nova triumphantly

"See, I told you it was the Radio!"

"No, the Signal is bad as well; It's just that the Speakers are shot too" I clarified, as I tried to unscrew the fastenings on the radio, sticky tape notwithstanding. My hands were fumbling, and I couldn't get it right. I growled, dropping the metal clip. This should have been child's play!

"Hey Gob, who's the little lass messing wit' ma Radio!" A booming voice from the behind the bar shouted out. Some of the people sitting at the tables stopped their conversations, and descended into quiet. Jericho just sighed and put his drink down

A tall man with silver hair strolled out of the back room, his hands behind his back. He nodded at some of his patrons, before sticking his nose in my face.

"You know, you look familiar. Didja ask me for a job once? Because," His eyes looked down at my chest, before whispering, "I'd have a wee bit o' trouble 'promoting' a girl who's flat as a washboard."

Jericho stood up suddenly "Don't fuck with her, Moriarty"

"Ooo, Have I touched a nerve!" Moriarty sneered "Who'd a thought that the big bad Raider of long ago woulda got so attached to this wee chit of a girl. Pathetic"

Jericho lunged for Moriarty, but he was off balance from all that he'd drunk and stumbled. Moriarty put out his foot and tripped the Wastelander, who fell to the ground hard. The Irishman walked away, while Jericho rose slowly to his feet, glaring daggers. Moriarty walked up to me again, and grabbed my chin with one hand, twisting my face this way and that before I shook him off.

"Oh, of course, you're James' Kid. You look just like him, well, 'cept for the hair. How come I haven't seen ya around?" He sniggered, while leaning against the counter.

"I've been busy" I muttered darkly, putting the Radio back down, and trying to leave. Why didn't I just listen to everyone before? This guy was living up to the reputation the others seemed to have of him.

"Out looking for Daddy, I presume" I freeze up instantly, and the Irishman dances around me, before scrutinising my stunned expression "Guess not" He says quickly, and I push him away from me, hard. A group of people get up from their tables and leave quickly. I try to follow their lead, and get as far away from the slimy creep as possible.

"Oh, don't be like that, or else I won't tell yeh where your Pop went after he came to see me…"

Once again, I freeze up. I want to leave, want to take Nova and Jericho's advice and wash my hands of this creep, but he's got me hooked; If Moriarty can help me find my dad, I have to listen to him. No matter how detestable he is.

"Why would my Dad come to see you, Moriarty" I spit out at him

"Oh, we're old friends. I remember how he stayed here before he took ya down to that Vault, when I was just starting out. I changed your diapers once or twice"

Jericho was having trouble standing, and had to sit down at one of the tables. Made sense really, he'd been drinking since we got back a few hours ago, it was probably just catching up to him now. Nova and Gob had both retreated to the back room, and the last of the Saloon's customers had filed out the front door. We were the only ones left in the Bar.

"But I suppose that's not important, you're here for information, and I just _love _giving people information out of the goodness of me heart." He said, sarcasm dripping from every word "Because I like yeh, it'll only cost yeh 100 caps for all I know about your dear ol' Dad" The Irishman held out his arms, in a half shrug.

Something about Moriarty just made me angry. But, I forced myself to calm down "Okay, Deal. I'll bring you the Caps"

He rubbed his hands together, and then sat up on the counter, in the same spot I'd been occupying a few minutes ago.

"Well, go get 'em, I aint got all night" I fumed, and walked out, Jericho getting up to follow me, stumbling slightly as he walked. We exited the Saloon, and met the cold night air. The old Wastelander (or, if Moriarty had been telling the truth, the Old Raider?) sighed

"I'm no good to anyone right now, can barely fucking walk straight. Will ya be okay without me, kid?" He asked, keeping his speech remarkably coherent for someone who'd been taking shots of Whiskey for going on at least four hours. I nodded, and he slowly ambled back towards his shack.

On the way back to my own shack, the person I'd been originally looking for found me. Lucy was walking up the metal ramp, and she brightened up immensely when she saw me.

"Ashlyn! I was really worried about you." She said chirpily "Did you deliver my letter?"

I stood stock still, until I finally handed over Ian's letter without explanation. "I'm sorry" I told her, before sprinting the rest of the way to my house.

* * *

The stash of caps Simms had given me for taking the bomb apart was enough to pay Moriarty, and when I returned to the Saloon (this time with Dogmeat in toe, and wearing my armor) the Irishman had metaphorical dollars in his eyes. I threw the bag of caps on the counter with distaste, and the man snatched them up quickly. After opening the bag and quickly inspecting the contents, to be sure that the right, or at least in the general area of right, amount of caps were there, he looked at me with a smile on his face

"You know, I liked ya better when you were in ya undies" He informed me, and I clenched my fists, barely restraining myself from punching the creep in his smug face.

"What do you know about my Dad?" I asked bluntly, as Dogmeat started to growl. Moriarty got up from his seat and held his hands up in surrender

"Chill out, I'm getting' to that. James was here a few weeks ago, he stayed here for the night, and then he made his way to DC. Said he was going to see that Galaxy News place, in the South-East o' the city ruins, get the lay o' the land"

"That's it?" I asked angrily. Moriarty may have given us a trail to follow, but that was hardly anything to go on, especially if it was weeks old.

"For 100 caps, it is." The Irishman told me, before yawning "Now, It's well past my bedtime, so I'm going to hit the hay. Gob, give the lovely lady a drink on the house for her troubles" Then, he ascended the stairs with a skip in his step. Gob and Nova returned to the main room, having listened to everything, and I sat down at the countertop, my head in my hands. Nova took a seat next to me, and put her hand on my shoulder companionably.

"Sorry about that, Kid," The voluptuous woman said to me, "but I did warn you."

"Yeah"

Gob had returned to his post behind the bar, and started fiddling with the dials on the radio again "Thanks for trying to fix this, Smoothskin. You might not have done any fixing, but it's the thought that counts, right?" The Ghoul said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. I look down at my still bandaged left arm, which was practically a stump from all the good it'd do me. It was the first time I'd really tried anything like that since I'd been injured, and one-handed repair work was a lot harder than I'd thought.

"Do you want water, or something stronger?" The ghoul asked, but Nova quickly interrupted my answer.

"After that, I think something stronger is definitely in order" The woman said with a grin, and Gob put a glass of some amber coloured liquid in front of me, as well as pouring a glass for Nova. I sculled it down, which turned out to be incredibly stupid. I choked on the burning liquid, and spilled it everywhere, to both Gob and Nova's amusement.

"Oh, give her another Gob, that one doesn't count. I don't think any of it actually got down her throat" Nova said, laughing at me as I gasped for air. Gob complied, grinning.

* * *

The next morning, I found myself in an unfamiliar bed; which, given my recent track record, should really stop surprising me. The Covers were strewn across the bed, and I realised that I wasn't alone. Nova was lying there next to me, snoring. I jumped in shock, getting entangled in the sheets and falling to the ground. The sleeping woman woke up, and looked over the side at my prone form.

"Morning, Ashlyn. Have a nice sleep" She asked me, propping her head against her arm. I was becoming increasingly aware that I was back to my Singlet and Leggings as clothing, and Nova wasn't, in fact, wearing anything.

"Um…I suppose so" I replied, all the sensory information from the past few seconds catching up with my splitting headache. I tried to get back up again, but I slipped on the metal floor, and fell on my back.

"You know, you can't handle your liquor at all" Nova told me, before burying her head in the pillows. Her muffled voice informed me that she was going back to sleep, since it was her day off.

I carefully got to my feet, and got dressed in my leather armor (which had been lying in a pile on the floor) carefully, before leaving through the door, closing it behind me. I found myself still in Moriarty's Saloon, still empty for the moment. I walked down the stairs to the main room, and found Gob sitting at one of the tables, patting a very content looking Dogmeat.

"Hey, Smoothskin, you're up early" The Ghoul said in his gravelly voice, "Most of the time I'm the only one up in the mornings"

I sat down, awkwardly, at the seat across from him "Um...Gob, do you know if Nova and I…did anything last night?" I ask nervously.

He blinks, before laughing heartily "Oh wow, you think you and Nova had sex last night, that is fucking hilarious Smoothskin" He stops laughing, and pats me on the shoulder "You might be a shit drinking buddy, but at least you're fun the morning after"

I look around awkwardly, hoping that the Ghoul didn't wake up Nova – or worse, Moriarty. Gob stops laughing, and notices my expression.

"No, Smoothskin, you didn't do anything last night. You just passed out after your fourth glass, and neither of us wanted to carry you home. We put you in Nova's bed because we thought that you would prefer that to bunkin' with a walking corpse" Soon after telling me this, he started laughing again.

I stayed talking with Gob a little longer, and with Nova for a little when she wakes up again, but when my Pip-boy's clock ticks over to 11 AM, I decide it's time to go. Walking out into the mid-morning I found the Metal town to be slightly sluggish. Only a few people were up and about, one of which was Cromwell, the priest who stood in the waters of the now deactivated bomb. He waved me down towards him, and I walked down towards him.

"How are you today, favoured daughter of Atom?" the probably crazy priest asked me, after inclining his head to me

"I've got a headache" I told him, leaving out my very confusing awakening.

"Ah, the small things do test us, do they not? May Atom's glow keep you strong" The priest told me, before sitting down in the radioactive water. I left him to do his thing, and walked to the Brass Lantern, and bought a few pieces of half cooked 'squirrel' pieces from the woman at the counter with the few remaining caps in my pocket. They tasted horrible, but I was hungry.

Eventually, Jericho approached me, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. He took a seat next to me, and the woman who had served me quickly went inside, intense anger in her eyes. Jericho ignored her

"Sorry about last night, Kid. I was fuckin' useless" He said sadly

"Oh, don't worry about it. Moriarty is a pig, but he told me where to go to find my father…or at least someone who might know where to find my father" I told him. Regardless, most of last night had slipped my mind after this morning's events.

"Well, give me half an hour to get my shit together and we'll go" The Wastelander told me, and started walking back to his house "You should make sure you've got everything you need yourself" He shouted over his shoulder.

I went back to my house near the main gates, and returned to my room. Wadsworth had cleaned up the mess I'd made last night, but the Sniper Case was gone. The Bullets and Rifle had been carefully placed on the desk, and everything else had been packed into my Bag.

"How I am going to carry you" I asked the Rifle, earning an odd look from Dogmeat. In the end, I used one of my bag's pockets to hold the long spiral bullets in, and tied a length of cord to each end of the Rifle, slinging it over my back. Wearing the shoulder bag, I returned to the main street of Megaton to wait for Jericho.

Soon, it became apparent that the Wastelander was going to need more than half an hour to get ready and I started strolling around town. Stopping outside Craterside Supply, I decided to check on the eccentric general store owner, and pushed my way in.

Moira Brown was holding a stick covered with green goo, and poking a captive Molerat with it. After the second poke, its head exploded.

"Oh dear, that wasn't supposed to happen at all!" She pouted, wiping the gore from the front of her jumpsuit "That was supposed to make you friendly, you silly Molerat."

She caught sight of me standing in the doorway, with a shocked expression on my face, and brightened up. Gesturing for the mercenary standing in the corner to move away the unfortunate animal's cage, she walked over to me with a smile.

"How are you, Ashlyn? I hope those injuries aren't serious" She says, pointing out the bandages on my arm and face "Come, come, sit down" She pulls out two stools, and we both sit.

"I've been doing some good progress on the guide. Thanks to you helping in the start-up phase, and those nice boys I hired when you were injured, I'm almost halfway there" Jericho had told Moira in no uncertain terms that I would not be doing anymore of Moira's experiments; she'd just taken it as a minor setback, and found a group of axe-crazy scavengers to continue her research. I think three of them had died since then.

"That's great Moira" I told her, eyeing the bloodstains on the floor and walls.

"Ooo, that's a very nice rifle" She grabbed the barrel of it, and took it off me before I had a chance to protest "It's a DKS model, those are always very nice. Good thinking with this cord, it's much more convenient that having to assemble it whenever you need to use it" By this point, I snatched the rifle out of her hands, but she didn't pay it any attention, and was already digging through the boxes behind that covered the bookshelves around her shop.

"Aha, there they are, those naughty little .308s" She said triumphantly, holding up a case in one hand. She gave me a winning smile, and handed me the case "They're a gift" She told me. I opened the case, which was half full of the long, spiralled bullets that the rifle used.

"Thanks Moira" I said, as I moved the bullets in my bag to this new case, of which I now had 12, and used the case's clip to attach it securely to the Rifles body. The Eccentric Shop Owner grinned even wider, and then tried to convince me to place a camera into a Mirelurk nest for her. I refused as politely as possible, and left quickly. She yelled to me to visit again soon.

By now, Jericho had finished getting ready, and was waiting impatiently for me at the gate. He muttered something about women taking far too long to get ready, and we started walking. I chuckled at the irony.

* * *

Once we'd passed the Super Duper Mart, which I noticed now seemed to be abandoned by the Raiders who had been there before; I decided to break the customary silence

"So, when Moriarty called you an 'Old Raider', was he…"

"Not for a long, long time" Jericho replied, staring wistfully into the distance as he walked "I haven't been a Raider since ya were a toddler, kid"

He grinned, and kicked one of the tin cans littering the ground. It went flying into the air.

"I was a damn good Raider once, probably one of the best. I had to be, else it would of gotten me killed" He said, as we watched the can complete its arc, and hit the ground on the other side of the parking lot.

"But, why do you hate Raiders so much, then?" I asked him, as we keep walking. He answers quickly, with venom in his voice

"The Wastes break ya down, make ya feel like the world isn't worth livin' in. Ya just want to hurt everything around ya; that's what makes Raiders what they are." He said bitterly, his teeth clenched "I know exactly how that feels; it made it so I didn't care about anything, not even if I lived or died. One day, I just decided that there must be something better than that, so I left it behind." He turned to me, with regret in his visible eye "Ya understand?"

"I think so…"

Jericho nodded, and we kept moving. After we passed the parking lot, the road became, somehow, worse. Barely any of the bitumen was intact, and there were large stretches of road missing. Regardless, this broken road led us away from the Super Duper Mart, and towards the city.

The road levelled out when we reached the river, and we walked in dead silence. I caught sight of an Old Woman sitting outside a shack on the waterfront, but Jericho ignored her. Briefly, I wondered what she was doing there, before we continued on. In the distance, a huge bridge spanned across the river, and Jericho increased his pace, heading towards it. I did my best to keep up.

As we walked, Jericho started getting very jumpy, and his head was twisting back and forth between the River and the Collapsed buildings behind us. He calmed down slightly when he caught sight of a trio of Molerats in one of the small indent in the buildings, and after the weird creatures shied away from us, he holstered his rifle. Although, when I next looked into the River, I caught sight of something causing ripples on the surface of the water.

The Bridge wasn't that impressive up close, and some of its length had detached from its starting point, and landed on the ground below. This wasn't a problem for us, and we simply waded through the water along the river bank, and climbed the slanted overpass.

"Fuck, this is giving me the creeps" Jericho said, redrawing his Rifle and gesturing for me to do the same. My Sniper Rifle wouldn't be as much use if whatever threat Jericho was feeling nearby turned out to be close, but it felt more comforting than drawing my pistol in this wide open space. We crossed the bridge cautiously, with me periodically sweeping the area with my Rifle's scope. Not until we reached the other side did Jericho relax. It wasn't long before his good mood ended, however.

"Fuck!" Jericho shouted in rage, and I silently agreed with his sentiment. One of the buildings had collapsed, probably recently if Jericho's anger was anything to go by, and blocked the road with a huge wall of concrete and steel.

"Can we climb over it?" I asked the irate Wastelander, who was pacing the rubble the edge of the rubble.

"No, it's too unstable" He growled, kicking a piece of stone loose with little effort, "It'd probably collapse on us if we tried. It's too risky. Shit!" He scrunched his fists up into balls, and punched the air violently.

It soon became clear that we couldn't reach Galaxy News this way, and Jericho led us back over the bridge, too angry to emulate the caution he'd had when crossing it previously. In any case, we returned the way we came, passing the Old Woman's shack once again. I waved at her, and she gave me a warm smile. Soon enough, we'd returned to the Super Duper Mart, where Jericho sat down on the bonnet of a long abandoned car, to think of what to do next.

"The only other real way would be through the Metros" The Wastelander murmured after a while, and got off the bonnet and started walking again. I'd been sitting cross-legged, petting Dogmeat, so by the time I was standing he was already far ahead of me. _I wish he wouldn't just expect me to catch up all the time _I thought, bitterly, as I broke into a light jog. Near the edge of the parking lot, there was a much smaller bridge crossing over the River. Jericho inspected it briefly, before giving an exasperated sigh.

"Bridge is booby-trapped" The Wastelander informed me, as he kicked the same tin can from earlier along the cracked pavement. As the can travelled along, a huge explosion erupted from the bridge. I threw myself to the ground, and Jericho lifted his arm to cover his face. When the dust cleared, a piece of concrete fell into the River below, with a loud splash.

"Bloody Idiots leaving mines everywhere…" Jericho said, disappointedly.

I'd landed on my injured arm, but the pain wasn't as intense as usual. Maybe it was starting to heal enough that it wasn't too tender anymore.

"C'mon Kid, we ain't got all day" Jericho shouted at me, and when I looked up I saw he'd already crossed the bridge. I scrambled to my feet, and gingerly crossed the now very unstable looking bridge, and jumped the missing segment that had collapsed in the explosion. I reached the other side, and Jericho nodded his approval, and we continued on.

The Wastelander led us along the river bank, and we walked under one of the many overpasses that had shattered and broken in 200 years of disuse. The road nearby was choked with rubble, another thing that I was starting to realise was commonplace in the Capital Wasteland.

Soon, we reached a Metro entrance with two metal cylinders on either side of the stairway. They proclaimed, in faded gold lettering, that we were at 'Farragut West Metro Station'. Piles of rubbish and debris littered the orange tiles of the metro, and the glass canopy hanging over the entrance to the train station was cracked. The pungent smell of the river was especially strong here.

I looked at Jericho pleadingly, and he shrugged "You're the one who wants to get to Galaxy News"

I peered down the flight of stairs leading to the Metro, and saw a wire gate had been erected, bearing a sign from 'the D.C. transit authority' warning people to keep out. I gulped, and pushed the gate apart, before heading into the darkness.

* * *

The inside of the Metro was just as dirty and full of debris as the outside, with piles of rubble littering the ground, and dust coating every surface. It was obvious that this Metro hadn't been used unlike the station leading to the Family's home had been. I don't think many people besides us had gone down here in a long, long time. The light bulbs hanging from the ceiling had long since burnt out, and I increased the brightness from my Pip-boy's screen.

Dogmeat started to growl ominously, and Jericho drew his Assault Rifle. I pulled my pistol out of my shoulder bag, worried by my companion's sudden readiness. My Sniper Rifle would be too cumbersome down here, so it stayed strung to my back.

The curve of the tunnel took us to our left, and we proceeded silently around, until we reached the rotating gates, and saw the way down to the actual station had been blocked off. The tunnel had collapsed over the stairs, and a solid wall of rubble separated us from the tracks. To the right of us was an open door, lit up by fluorescent lights.

"I don't think those lights should be on" I told Jericho, holding the pistol ahead of me, the dull light from my Pip-boy barely noticeable in comparison. The Wastelander grunted, and walked through the door.

"They probably shouldn't be; unless something is living in these offices, but not the metro" he told me, in a tone that seemed to be feigned disinterest, as he walked away. Grudgingly, I followed him, and we found ourselves in a back room. There were a few bones littering the ground in one corner, and I gulped. Jericho had ignored them, and was still walking forward.

Around the next turn was another open door, with stairs heading down a metal stairwell. The lighting wasn't as good as it was in this room, but it was still brighter than the metro itself.

"I'll take maintenance tunnels over creepily bright rooms" Jericho said to me, before walking down the stairs, not waiting for my answer. I sighed, and trailed after the Wastelander. I take one last look at the eerie rooms behind us, before the twists of the metal corridor moved it out of view.

We kept moving through the metal tunnels, going down set after set of stairs. We passed by a metal drum, a roaring fire held inside it. That gave me pause, but Jericho chuckled, and kicked it

_Tuuuung_

We waited briefly, but there was no response. Jericho stopped chuckling, and shrugged.

"C'mon Kid, let's keep going" The Wastelander said. I stared at Jericho's retreating back, confused about what the hell he just did, before dashing to keep up with him. Soon enough, we came to a pit, and the pipes running along the ceiling disappeared along the walls, connecting to machinery of some sort. It was too dark to make out much detail, and we weren't there long enough to look. Jericho obviously wasn't interested in the equipment that still existed under the Train Tracks, and I wasn't going to stay behind to investigate.

Dogmeat's growl started rising in pitch as we climbed the next set of stairs, which led us up to a crossroads. On one side was a walkway over the pit we'd just left, and the other a closed sliding door.

"Which way, Jericho?" I asked, lowering my Pistol to my side. Even though Dogmeat's warning snarl hadn't subsided, nothing bad had happened to us yet. In response to my question, Jericho pulled a Cap from his pocket, and flipped it.

"We go that way" He said, after inspecting the result of the flip. I balked at this nonchalant way of deciding which way we should go, but quickly gathered my wits. We could always backtrack if we went the wrong way, after all.

Crossing the walkway, we found a fenced gate, not unlike the one we'd passed through to get into the metro. I tried to pick the lock on the fence, but with only one arm, this proved just as difficult as removing the back of the Radio had been in Megaton. In the end I settled for Jericho kicking the Fence down. The banging and crashing reverberated through the corridors, and I grimaced with every echo. Jericho ignored my concerns, and we walked on.

This small area seemed to house generators, and we went onto another Walkway after a few steps. There were two separate sets of stairs leading down, and another closed door ahead of us.

"I don't think you can just flip a coin to decide this time, Jericho" I said, watching the Wastelander scrutinising every path. Suddenly, a horrible screech came from below us, and suddenly a horde of emancipated ghouls were running up the stairs towards us. Dogmeat jumped into the fray, careening over the edge of the walkway with a ghoul. I had no time to worry about my dog's fate, as a trio of Ghouls got between me and Jericho, slashing at me with their fingers. I screamed, drawing my Pistol and quickly taking aim. I fired three shots.

All three went flying off into the darkness, and the Ghouls kept coming. The closest one knocked the 10mm out of my hands, and it went sliding back to the solid area behind the walkway, out of my reach. I kicked one of them back, but the third barrelled into me, trying to bite at me with its sharpened teeth. I shoved my Pip-boy between its jaws, and its teeth shattered against the hard metal.

Panicked, I tried to scramble away from the creature, but it pursued me, ignoring its ruined jaw. The other two dropped to their knees to keep up their assault, and one of them managed to bite down on my thigh. Luckily, its teeth were unable to pierce the thick leather and I kicked it off, sending it falling off the walkway. I used this brief moment to pull myself up again, and squared off against the remaining two Ghouls attacking me. Jericho had been pushed to the opposite side of the Walkway, but I couldn't see how he was fairing before my opponents attacked me.

Using my Pip-boy as a blunt instrument was nowhere near as effective as I thought it would be, and swinging it against a ghoul's shoulder did me no good. It simply grunted, and held my arm tight as its friend charged me. I pulled out of the way, almost sending myself over the side in the process, and escaped from the ghoul holding me. I pulled my Sniper Rifle from my back, using it to club one of the ghouls backwards. I quickly pulled a bullet from the case attached to the gun and after kicking out at the second ghoul, retreated off of the walkway. Inserting the bullet into the gun, I aimed at the quickly approaching ghouls.

Before I could pull the trigger, the Ghoul moved past the barrel of my Rifle, and jumped at me. Falling backwards, and attempting to roll back to my feet, proved futile, and the Ghoul remained on top of me, attempting to bite at my face. With my Bandaged Arm propped against its neck to prevent it from getting closer, I scrambled around for something, anything, to beat the Ghoul off of me with.

My fingers closed around the familiar handle of my pistol, and I quickly brought it up to the ghoul's temple, squeezing the trigger, and closing my eyes at the same time. This close, the noise of the pistol was deafening, but it worked without question. I pushed the dead ghoul off of me, and aimed at my last Assailant. It had frozen for some reason (fear?), but I didn't care. I carefully took aim at the thing's head, and pulled the trigger.

Somehow, I missed.

Even so, the ghoul was fazed enough to turn its head briefly and I had to opportunity to get up and ram my shoulder into its stomach. It was incredibly light, and I sent it flying over the edge of the walkway.

Meanwhile, Jericho had lost his Assault Rifle, and was beating the Ghouls back with a plank of wood with a Nail in it. There were four dead ghouls at his feet, and he quickly dispatched another. The door behind him opened, but he was too busy with the last two ghouls from before to notice. A larger ghoul came through the door, covered in rotting pieces of leather. I took aim with my pistol, and emptied the remaining bullets at this new threat.

Once again, none of the shots hit. I inspected the barrel of my pistol quizzically; had the scope bent?

"Fuck!" Jericho shouted, alerted to the threat behind him. Leaving the Nail-board embedded in a ghoul, he pulled a knife from his belt and tried to dodge the claws of the larger feral ghoul. I ran forward, grabbing the one remaining 'normal' ghoul from behind to prevent it from attacking Jericho. It struggled, but it was too weak to break my grasp. I'd positioned my arms so that my Pip-boy prevented it from biting me, although that didn't stop it from trying.

Jericho was still dodging the wild swings of the large ghoul, until suddenly he darted forward, vaulted up using the things arm, and drove the knife deep into the thing's skull.

"Freakin' Ferals. Never had to fight this many of them at once before" the Wastelander grunted, before he noticed me still struggling with the ghoul I was holding still. He laughed, retrieving his knife and slitting the thing's throat. I let it fall to the ground.

"Also, what the fuck was with that shooting? I've seen ya shoot before, and ya shoot a lot better than that chicken-shit effort" The grizzled Wastelander asked, as he picked up the rest of his gear from the ground.

"I don't know," I replied, "the sight on my pistol must be broken" I held out the gun for Jericho to look at, and he snatched it out of my hand and inspected it. He then compared the sight on my pistol to his Assault Rifle.

"Nah, straight as an arrow" He said, before looking at me strangely. He walked closer, squinting at my face. I took an embarrassed step back, not sure what he was doing.

"Don't tell me this is the first time ya've tried shooting since ya lost that eye, kid?" He asked, desperately, poking the bandaged side of my face as he did so. My silence gave him the only answer he needed.

"Oh for fucks sake, kid, I thought those vampires wannabes would have gone over this with ya," He yelped, throwing his hands up in the air, "Losing an eye is fuckin' serious! Did it not occur to ya that havin' ya depth perception permanently changed would not make aiming a problem for ya! Fuck!" The Wastelander continued to shout curses, and I let him vent his anger when I went to find Dogmeat. The Hardy old mutt had managed to fall to the bottom of the pit below us, and had landed behind one of the generators. Thankfully, he'd had a dead feral ghoul as cushioning, so he wasn't badly hurt. I lifted the whining dog back over the top of the machine, and got a wet lick in return.

After I retrieved my Sniper Rifle, we quickly left this junction, and proceeded along the way the large ghoul had attacked us from. It led us up a winding stairwell, this time enclosed again. On the walls and ceilings were lengths of cables, and a few working light bulbs remained on the ceiling. Whatever had lit up the rooms at the entrance to the Metro was still a mystery, since it probably wasn't the Feral Ghouls. Regardless, the door here opened up to the train tracks.

"What direction are we heading kid" Jericho asked, and I looked at my Pip-boy. The compass function told us we we're facing south, looking at the walls of the brick tunnel.

"We need to go along the tracks" I told the Wastelander, and he nodded. A quick inspection revealed that the train still on this side of the junction had fallen on its side, and blocked that way off for us. Unperturbed we passed through the middle section to the other set of tracks. As we crossed, Jericho noticed a red vending machine, half hidden in the shadows. He grinned, and kicked the front section of the vending machine off, and I flinched at the loud clatter. For all we knew, our previous encounter with those feral ghouls had been because of the noise Jericho had made kicking down the wire fence.

In any case, Jericho retrieved three bottles of brown cola from the machine, and gave them to me to put in my pack. I nestled them in, next to my sleeping bag, and we continued on. Once again it proved impossible to go directly South-East, since the tunnel roof had collapsed further down the tunnel in that direction, and we ended up heading the opposite direction, hoping that the tunnels curved, or we found another exit heading the direction we wanted.

This gamble payed off, and the tracks bent slowly, and soon enough the silhouette of a large station was in sight. Of course, more ghouls were also waiting for us. Jericho gestured for us to be quiet, and even Dogmeat got the message and stopped growling. We crept past the stationary ghouls, all of them lying down against piles of rubble, walls or each other, and climbed the no longer functioning escalator as quickly and as quietly as we could. This upper level had the burnt out skeleton of a car lying prone across it, somehow, and I stared at it, bemused, for a few seconds before continuing on.

In the station's entrance, Jericho took the opportunity to raid another Vending Machine, this time retrieving two bottles of cola, and we ran for the exit before the noise attracted the ghouls from the forgotten station behind us.

* * *

Past the wire fencing, which we put back into place as quickly as we could, we arrived in the midst of towering buildings, and spectacular piles of rubble. I gazed skywards, awestruck, at the skyscrapers. Of course, I'd seen them to some extent when we'd tried to enter the city through the streets, but being amongst them was an entirely different feel.

Standing beneath the Metal globe that shadowed this Metro Entrance, my marvelling at the crumbling city was cut short by Jericho grabbing the Nuka Cola from my bag, and lining them up on the bonnet of a rusting car.

"We've got to get ya aim back, or ya'll be no use at all" He muttered angrily at me, before grabbing one of the Bottles and unscrewing (and pocketing) the cap. He took a long swig as he walked over to me, grabbed my pistol from me, and shot once, shattering a bottle.

"Ya learn quick, Kid, ya learn really quick. So, I'm giving ya ten minutes to learn to aim with only one eye." With that, he handed the pistol back to me, and went to sit down on one of the nearby benches.

I held the pistol awkwardly, just like I had when Amata had first handed it to me the morning I'd left the Vault. That seemed so long ago now…

The first three shots went nowhere near the bottles, and I furrowed my brow in frustration. I took aim again, and missed just as spectacularly. I sighed, but I knew that I had to get this right. As much as I hated it, things had tried to kill me a lot since I got here, and having _very _good aim was one of the few things that had kept me from dying so far. This time, after I took aim, I moved the pistol slightly to the right of the Bottle, and squeezed the trigger.

The bullet didn't hit, but it clipped the side of the Car. I was on the right track. Fiddling with how far Right to move the sight on the next few shots still didn't bring me success, but I was getting there.

"Puny Humans! You Missed Us!" A shout echoed from the building across from us, and Jericho quickly jumped to his feet. A pair of hulking green men had burst from behind the rubble and were charging towards us. One of them held a baseball bat in its bulging hands, the other a battered rifle, which it looked uncomfortable using. Jericho ducked to avoid the thing's clumsy shooting, and returned fire with his Assault Rifle. The bullets thudded into the Baseball Bat wielding one, who looked down at its chest in surprise, but didn't seem worried about them, and resumed charging at Jericho.

I tried to aim at the second mutant, and even hit it…just not where I was aiming. Instead of the thing's head, my bullet struck its shoulder, where it seemed to do next to nothing.

Suddenly, a barrage of red beams struck the Green Creature, each seeming to do more damage than my or Jericho's bullets had. It dropped its weapon, and covered its head with its arm, backing away from the attacks. I noticed that Jericho had dealt with his opponent, and was walking towards me with a smug smile.

The remaining creature was quickly dispatched, and the cause quickly came into view; A small group of people wearing grey armor, carrying the same weaponry that we'd taken from the 'Enclave' scout, way back when. One of their number, a blonde woman with tanned skin, quickly approached us, fuming

"Who the hell do you think you are, shooting aimlessly in a Super Mutant danger spot? You'd have been killed if we hadn't diverted from our mission to assist you" She shouted at us, angrily. I dropped my head guiltily, but Jericho scoffed at her words

"Ya don't know squat, ya bitch. We'd have taken those muties out fine even if ya hadn't shown up. We're not helpless" He retorted. I noticed one of the other people raising their weapon at Jericho.

"Please," I interrupted them both, standing between them, "We don't need to fight each other"

Jericho grunted, and walked off. The woman sighed, and shook her head. She gestured at her friends, and the one I'd seen lowered his (or perhaps hers, it was impossible to tell with their helmets) weapon grudgingly.

"My name is Ashlyn, and that's Jericho. We're trying to reach the Galaxy News station" I told the woman, and she rubbed her brow.

"I'm Sarah, Sarah Lyons. I'm the leader of the Lyon's Pride, and you two _civilians_ are interrupting our mission." At this, she looked back at the rest of her group, and the man without a helmet shrugged "We've already got one rookie with us." Another of the armored people punched this one on the arm.

Sarah looked back at me "But, if you're willing to help us, we're heading to GNR. Our guys on the ground there are under attack, and we've been sent to bail them out"

I nodded, and Sarah returned to the others, and their group started moving. Jericho patted me on the back and handed me the battered rifle the Super Mutant had been using, and a handful of small bullets

"Ya pistol aint gonna do jack against these muties, unless ya get 'em in the eyes. This'll pack more of a punch" He told me, before eyeing the backs of Sarah's group "I don't trust those bloody Brotherhood types"

"Brotherhood?" I asked him, as we ran to keep up with them.

"Brotherhood of Steel; they're some sort of crazy cult. Most people try not to have much to do with 'em." He informed me, as we ran through a gap in the buildings towards the Brotherhood. Once we reached them, one of them told us to be quiet, before scuttling towards the corner most of them were peeking around. Sarah had crouched near one of the Brotherhood members, and tapped them on the shoulder

"Colvin, what's happening" She asked the armored person, who lowered his weapon and turned to her

"Element of surprise is well and truly gone. They heard the shots, and five muties attacked us. Jennings took a bullet, and…she didn't make it." Colvin gestured at a woman lying on a nearby mattress, some specks of blood coating her armor.

"We had to sedate her; she kept trying to get back up and keep fighting, but it just kept causing her pain." Colvin added sadly.

"Okay, anything else" Sarah asked, before getting back behind the wall, and reloading her energy weapon.

"Not a thing; they're staying put. Who are those two?" Colvin asked, pointing out me and Jericho

"Nobody," Sarah replied darkly, "just some idiots who blew our ambush." Colvin shrugged, and went back to staring down the sights of his strange rifle.

Sarah sighed "Okay, then we'll have to go to them. Vargas, you take point. Colvin you're with me, make sure no one is shooting us from above. Reddin, you're still an Initiate, so I want you in the back. Listen to anything Vargas or I tell you." Each of her soldiers saluted her, and she turned to us, with a scowl on her face

"Okay, Civilians, I don't care what you two do, as long as you don't put me or my team in danger. Understand?" Jericho and I both nodded, and Sarah returned to Colvin, peering around the bend. She held up her hand, slowly counting down from five.

"Be careful out there, Reddin" the other Brotherhood member not wearing a helmet –Vargas- warned the initiate, "I don't want any dead heroes today" Sarah's countdown hit zero.

Vargas burst out from cover, followed closely by Sarah and Colvin. Reddin, Jericho and I all ran out after them, and we dashed across the open ground. The terrain was uneven, covered in rubble. This made it difficult for the Pride to keep momentum, especially since the Super Mutants on the other side had opened fire. In practice however, it made no difference. The Power Armored soldiers shrugged off bullets like they were rain drops and it was quickly apparent that the enemy either weren't skilled enough, or smart enough, to aim for the exposed heads of Sarah and Vargas.

In comparison, the Pride had opened fire in return, and bright red beams of light danced across the square, burning holes in the opposing creatures. Reddin ignored Sarah's orders and charged forward, firing an Assault Rifle at the oncoming Mutants.

Vargas shouted at her to get back, but she wasn't listening. Quickly making a decision, I ran towards the girl, who seemed so confident in her Armor that she wasn't thinking. I grabbed a groove in the armor and started pulling her back behind cover. Seconds later, an explosion rocked the patch of ground Reddin had just been standing on. She gave me a startled thanks, but I was already attempting to compensate my aim with the new rifle, and I didn't respond. The part of me that protested, that told me killing these things was wrong, well, that part of me wasn't calling the shots right now.

This skirmish didn't last very long, since both Sarah and Vargas used the advantages their armor gave them with brutal efficiency, and their laser weapons tore through the Mutant's tough skin without trouble. We kept going, and passed by some neglected playground equipment. The sign above the doorway we entered through was missing letters, but it was clear enough that we'd just moved into a school.

As soon as we entered, the fire fight intensified. Super Mutants had taken up places on the upper level, and the rooms adjacent to this one. Jericho and I quickly backtracked, but the Brotherhood members backed up into a circle and returned fire. Bullets didn't penetrate their armor, and thick-skinned though the mutants might be, they were not winning this war of durability.

Jericho was busy reloading, and I took the opportunity to climb the stairway to our right. Sarah and her allies were busy with the Mutants on the ground floor, but the ones above them were giving them just as much trouble. As soon as I poked my head around the corner, one of the Mutants opened fire. He was using the same type of rifle as me, but he obviously wasn't a very good shot. I stayed low, and darted towards him quickly. He fired wildly, none of his bullets finding their mark. As he fumbled to reload, I got in close and fired two shots into his chest. The creature stumbled, and I tried my 'hit opponent with Pip-boy' tactic once more. Unlike against the ghouls, it worked quite nicely this time.

The second Mutant on the upper level was dealt with by Colvin, and Sarah gave orders to secure the building. Jericho joined me on the upper level, and we slowly edged towards the noise of combat coming from behind the school. A huge battle was raging; more Super Mutants than all the ones we'd seen so far so attacking a small group of Brotherhood soldiers. Looking over the battlefield, many of them had already been killed.

Sarah and her group charged out of the lower level, hitting the Mutants from behind. Jericho and I dropped from our upstairs window, and each of us started attacking from a different side. The Mutants started to panic, shooting wildly. One of the Brotherhood members on the battlements fell to the bullets flying through the air wildly, but the Mutants were quickly culled by Sarah's group. Most of the remaining Mutants gathered into a circle by the fountain, shouting incomprehensibly at us all.

A trio of laser blasts scorched the ground around me, and I turned to see a much larger Super Mutant, holding a mangled version of the weapon the Lyon's Pride was using, careening towards me. I brought up my Rifle, and fired, but it didn't slow at all. Using one arm, it snatched the Rifle from my hands, and tried to shoot me with its other. I ducked under the beams, pulling my pistol from my bag as I did so.

_Get him in the eyes _I thought to myself, before opening fire on the hulking mutant. Most of my shots missed the mark, but one struck it on the cheek, drilling through the softer skin. I was too close to it for it to return fire, so it simply knocked me back with its arm. I was shocked at how strong it was, and I went flying backwards onto the concrete. The Super Mutant walked over to me, and put its foot down on my chest

"Stupid Human Hurt Me! I Kill Stupid Human!" It shouted, spittle flying everywhere. It lifted its foot high, and drove it down onto my chest. I gasped in pain as I felt my ribs crack. I tried to roll away, but it grabbed my leg and pulled me upside down. With one arm holding me up, the Super Mutant chortled in delight "How Do You Like To Be Hurt, Stupid Human!" The Creature said.

I answered by pulling my Sniper Rifle from my back, and pressing it against the thing's forehead. I pulled the trigger.

Soon, the others had dealt with the other Mutants in the plaza, and Sarah came over to find me lying on the road underneath the monster I'd just killed.

"You okay under there, Civilian?" She asked

"This thing smells like rotting meat, and some of my ribs are broken" I replied, glibly, and the blonde woman laughed, before shifting the creature off of me. She was bleeding from a small cut above her eye, but other than that, she had survived the Battle unscathed.

"You did good out there…Ashlyn, was it?" she told me, and patted me on the back. She probably meant it to be friendly, but her enhanced strength made it so she knocked me over "Oh, I'm so sorry!" she apologised, helping me up. I told her it was okay, and pulled away from her, clutching my ribs.

Jericho had already started taking the spoils of battle from the corpses of both sides, while Sarah's team swept the Area. I noticed Reddin was quite close to the Old Wastelander, checking around two toppled busses.

_RooAAAAAooor!_

A huge sound filled the courtyard, and before anyone could react, a massive creature smashed through the barricade, swinging a metal club left and right. Reddin was caught in its explosive entrance, and went flying across the courtyard. Jericho was lucky enough to avoid the explosion, but he was right in the monster's line of fire, and the Fire Hydrant on the end of the Monster's club smashed into his side, and sent him soaring through the air until he impacted with the fountain. I gasped in fear when I saw the Wastelander fall into the fountains water, and not get up again.

Quickly, the remaining brotherhood members jumped into action, pouring a barrage of energy and bullets onto the creature. Nothing seemed to phase it, and it moved onto the small group holding the entrance to the Radio Station. Its club tore through the armor of one of the Brotherhood soldiers, and the other two ran in terror.

Sarah and Vargas were attempting to flank the creature, but their attacks seemed to annoy it more than damage it. Sarah dodged out of the way when it brought its club down at her, but Vargas wasn't so lucky; The Behemoth kicked him.

Quickly reloading, I took aim with my Sniper Rifle. The bullet struck the creatures abdomen (the size of it made missing practically impossible), but like the other attacks, it didn't seem to register. Despair started to fill me, and by the time I fired a second shot, another one of the Brotherhood members had been killed.

"This isn't doing anything" I muttered to myself, before throwing the Sniper Rifle back over my shoulders. I ran back to pick up the Hunting Rifle I'd been using, before I noticed something better.

* * *

Jericho slowly opened his eyes, and found himself draped halfway into a fountain. His memory of what had just happened was a little sketchy, but it felt like he'd gone toe to toe with a Yao Guai and lost.

He noticed a Behemoth was careening around the square, smashing a fire hydrant into the ground, trying to hit some Brotherhood fuckwits. Well, that explained the ungodly pain he was feeling right now, at least.

He realised that his legs were bent horribly wrong, and his chest felt like it no longer had bones left in it. This was, in his opinion, a bad thing. To him, it was obvious that he wasn't going to survive much longer. Nearly fifty years of experience out in the wastes gave ya a good idea of how much punishment the human body could take, and by the looks of things, he'd passed that point pretty hard.

His perception seemed to be a bit warped right now, and he was thankfully numb to most of the pain he must be going through right now. He was content to watch for a moment, and just wait for whatever energy was keeping him from succumbing to his wounds to run out. Hell, if he got to watch a few of those Brotherhood pricks get flattened, he wouldn't complain. A show before he died.

A familiar figure entered his slowly decreasing field of vision. The kid had found some sort of Laser shotgun-thing, and the beams of light flying from its tip seemed to be drawing the Behemoth's attention. Idiot, she should've just hid until it got bored and walked away. Or better yet, ran. Stupid girl, always getting so caught up in shit that she shouldn't get caught up in. Oh well, not his problem anymore.

He let himself fall backwards into the fountain, his head knocking lightly against something else when it hit the water. Turning his head slowly, he came face-to-helmet with a dead Brotherhood Soldier. Held loosely between the unlucky sods finger's was a Fat Man.

"Bullshit…Those bucket heads sure love their toys" He muttured, spitting a glob of blood as he did so.

Raising his neck and seeing the Kid still at it, dancing around the Behemoth with that stupid weapon (At least she didn't need to aim with it; it just shot everywhere), he felt a pang of regret.

"Okay, I'll save her one last time" He assured his conscience, which he now seemed to hallucinating as a floating Brahmin head. Dying was fucking weird.

* * *

The monster was starting to take notice of our attacks now, but I could tell my newly acquired weapon wasn't going to last much longer. It had stopped firing three beams of light at a time. It was probably running out of fuel, but I had no idea what the cartridges it was running on were, or even how to replace them if I did know.

Sarah and Colvin were the only others still fighting with me, and they were about as worn down as I was. Sarah was limping, but she was still putting up a very good fight. Vargas was still alive, just unconscious, and I'd been too scared to check on Jericho.

I retreated back to the entrance to the school, and the monster slowly started following me. I'd seen it but on an impressive burst of speed already, but after Colvin had dropped a grenade under its foot it had been moving quite slowly. I took a few pot shots, three of the four beams striking it dead on.

Suddenly, I caught sight of movement along the pavement, near the Behemoth's foot. Somehow, Jericho was still conscious, and dragging himself and a metal cylinder towards the Monstrous Super Mutant. It was too focused on me to notice him, and I fired one last shot to keep it that way. I watched in horror as the broken body of my mentor propped up the Cylinder against the monster's leg and laugh wildly as the world exploded.

* * *

Well, I thought these two weeks would be relaxing. This was not the right assumption to make. I'm being sent out to a farm to chop down trees next week! I don't know how to do that ;_;

Author's Notes are on my Profile, as per usual.

Thanks to Vampirane101, Barmn and Juggernautx42 for your Alerts and Favourites, and Fayneir, Jacquirin, Zero-Vision, Big Babidi, Meishuu and Vampirane101 for your Reviews


	6. The

Cleaning up after the battle had been hard. Because so many of the Brotherhood members stationed at Galaxy News had been killed, I'd been pressganged into assisting. We spent a good portion of the afternoon dragging the Power Armored corpses into a pile, where they'd been cremated. The Super Mutants were left to rot. Sarah had tried to prevent me from seeing Jericho's remains, but I pushed past her anyway. All that was left of my friend was a charred skeleton. For the rest of the time I was out there, I was completely silent.

During the clean-up, Dogmeat had stolen into the courtyard, his tail between his legs. When the Super Mutants had first attacked us at Chevy Chase, he'd bolted into the ruined city, and had only just found his way back to me. I gave my Dog a bone crushing hug regardless, and he'd licked my face in return.

After we'd finished, I was led into the building itself. Signs of the battle were plainly shown by the damage to the walls and windows. Barricades had been erected in front of the glass doors, but the bloodstains of the soldiers we'd dragged from behind them proved that their effectiveness had been low. Only two of the garrison members had survived, and they both sat listlessly in the foyer. They volunteered to keep an eye on the still unconscious Vargas, while Sarah and I went to the upper levels.

Galaxy news had three floors, and the second didn't seem to serve much of a purpose beyond a junction between the first and third. Great holes had sunk through the floor of the above level, but looking through them showed that they were still in use as storage. Piles of mortar and silt had collected around the furniture, and a floodlight stood in the corner, casting long shadows when its bright light hit the many obstructions in the room. Sarah's eyes didn't even drift over all of this, and we'd left up the next set of stairs in an instant.

The three of us had been met with a disinterested woman wearing blue coveralls, who directed us to sit at the table while we waited for Three Dog. Sarah had sat down immediately, and used the opportunity to disentangle her leg from its metal boot. I stole a look at the distorted limb, and quickly wished I hadn't. Sarah's reaction to seeing it was less than pleasant. When she saw my expression, she quickly reassured me that she had the situation under control

"I can't feel anything, too much Med-X running through my system. When it rubs off it's gonna hurt like a bitch, though. Hopefully I'll be back at the Citadel by then" She clamped the boot back onto her foreleg with a grunt.

We waited for only a few more minutes, before the Door labelled 'Studio' burst open, and a man wearing a grey bandanna and sporting a goatee strolled out of it. He waited before both of us were looking at him before he started talking

"I know just what you're thinking," He informed us, "Just who is this wacko? And why should I care? Never fear, ladies, I have your answer. I am Three Dog, sovereign lord of this _fine_ Radio Station" He finished his introduction with a bow, and Sarah burst out laughing

"You still love the sound of your own voice, I see" She sniggered, giving him a sarcastic clap.

"Nice to see you again, Sarah" Three Dog said, before he took a seat at the table with us, although he decided to rock his chair onto its back two legs. Inclining his head towards Sarah, he said with a hint of sarcasm "Tell your Pops thanks and all for sending in the Cavalry, but I'd like to speak to the girl in private. If that's okay with you" Sarah nodded, and limped over to me.

She placed her armored hand on my shoulder "Are you going to be okay?" She asked me, and I nodded in reply. She gave me a vaguely encouraging smile, before limping back down the stairs. Once she'd left, Three Dog let his chair fall forward, and placed his hands on the table. When he next spoke, his voice was missing the playful lilt it had before

"I know that I couldn't keep this place alive without the Brotherhood lending a hand, but doesn't stop me from resenting it. Not that they're helping me, course, but that I need them to be here to protect the place." He took off his shades, and started polishing them with a strip of fabric, before turning his eyes towards me. After I said nothing, he shrugged and replaced the shades in one of his vest's pouches, before continuing

"I owe ya one girl, and I owe your friend even more. Not often that civies put their lives on the line to help others. Pretty inspiring, in my book" We both waited in silence for a little while longer, until Three Dog yawned loudly, and stood up and headed towards a bunk over in a side room.

Dogmeat whined, and licked my hand. This snapped me out of my stupor enough for me to finally find my voice "My father…I'm looking for my Father" Three Dog swung the seat he'd been sitting in around, and sat down facing backwards.

"Sure, Kid, I'd love to help you find your dad" he said, after rubbing his eyes, "What's he look like?"

"He's tall…grey hair…he might have been wearing a lab coat, or a Vault Jumpsuit…"

Three Dog shot up from his chair and slammed his hands down on the table "James? You're James' kid?" I nodded again, and he clutched his bandanna, and took a step away from the table, letting out a long breath

"Do you know where I can find him?" I pressed him, some excitement creeping into my voice. Three Dog looked sheepish for a moment, even rubbing the back of his head

"Well, yeah…but I can't really tell you. Promised him I wouldn't tell anyone who came asking where he went." He shrugged "He was one paranoid dude for someone who spent the past twenty underground"

"What!" I fumed, kicking my chair away as I stood up as well. Three Dog looked pained, and increasingly nervous as I started walking around the table towards him. When I was standing face to face with him, with Dogmeat growling at my side, he cracked.

"Okay, how about we make a compromise?" He asked desperately, before running over to a cabinet on his right, and emptying a stack of papers from it. He spread the documents onto the table top, and finally dropped a large map of DC over the top of them. Using his index finger, he traced a line from a Radio Tower wreathed in light (and hand drawn in red marker) to another quadrant of the map, bearing the name 'The Mall'

"Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, a dumb as dirt Super Mutant got his hands on a Rifle. Normally, that'd be the end of the story, 'cept this time, this big, nasty freak of nature caught sight of a 'shiny thing' adorning the top of the Washington Monument and, using his brand new rifle, shot the 'shiny thing' until it was full of more holes than Swiss cheese" He looked at me, and paused for dramatic effect

"That shiny thing was GNR's relay dish, and without it I can't bounce the signal much further out than just DC. But, hope is not lost" With each hand he grabbed a corner of the map and threw it to the side, before grabbing some diagrams from the pile of papers "I know we can get a replacement. In the Museum of Tech, there's a lunar lander which should still have its Communication Dish installed; you get me that Dish, I'll tell you where to find your father"

"What happened to 'I owe ya one'?" I asked, anger dripping from each word. Three Dog backed off a bit, finally taking a huge step to put most of the table between us.

"My debt to you cancels out my promise to your dad" He said flippantly, "Fair's fair"

I walked around the table, and grabbed his lapel in one hand. He grimaced a bit, but didn't seem unduly threatened by it. I scowled at him, before letting go of the fabric.

"I'll find your Dish, you bastard" I told him angrily, before storming out with Dogmeat on my heels.

Sarah and Colvin were waiting for me on the second level, and I would have ignored the both of them had Sarah not reached out and grabbed my shirt before I left down one of the corridors. She'd stripped out of her Power Armor, and Colvin was bandaging her leg, while she rode off the last of her Med-X induced numbness.

"I heard what happened up there. Sorry about Three Dog" Sarah told me, and I grunted. Neither of us said anything for a few moments, and Colvin suddenly broke the awkward silence that had developed in the room

"Civilian, I inspected that modified AER9 you collected, and I'm worried that it could be potentially dangerous to take with you" He, unlike Sarah, was still wearing his Armor, and the Helmet muffled his words slightly "So, for your safety, I've confiscated it in the name of the Brotherh-" Sarah cut him off before he could finish, even as she winced as the pain started catching up with her

"Super Mutants don't really know what they're doing most of the time. One of them just opened up a laser rifle and stuck some spare parts into it. You're lucky it didn't explode when you tried shooting it" She shrugged

"Keep it" I said bitterly, and turned to leave. Sarah once again tried to stop me but I avoided her hand

"Ashlyn, wait-" she started to say, and I turned around violently.

"What now!" I shouted, unleashing my rage at her. In hindsight, she didn't deserve it. Even so, she took the hint, and turned away.

"There's a Brotherhood route to the Mall through the tunnels. Just follow the paintings of a winged sword on a background of gears, and you'll make it there fine" she told me, her voice expressionless. I nodded, and stormed out, still fuming.

* * *

Three Dog leaned on the upstairs balcony, twirling an unlit cigarette in his left hand. He watched as a small pair of figures struggled their way down to solid ground, and finally made their way down a long trench.

He sighed deeply, before placing the cigarette back in the battered packet he kept in one of his vest pouches. He promised Margaret (who didn't smoke) that he wouldn't stink up the Studio, so he normally took breaks to go outside and satiate his nicotine addiction. Some days, however, he just didn't feel like it. Today was one of those days.

He kept watching as the girl and her dog navigated through the burnt out car wrecks, and finally through the door into the Abandoned Car Tunnel, and felt guiltier the further away she got. It was a dick move to make her get the Dish, but it was the only option he had. Galaxy News was too important to be crippled like this. Fighting the Good Fight was too important!

Still, making an injured girl go into serious danger like this pulled on his heartstrings. And a Vault Dweller to boot! If the brotherhood hadn't been so unmovable about retrieving it for him, he could have just told the girl where her Daddy went…

"Nah, I can't keep beating myself up over this. She made it here, and she fought those Super Mutants like a pro. She won't bite it that easy" He reassured himself, before returning inside as the sun started to touch the horizon.

Margaret had already set up the broadcasting equipment, and the expressionless woman held out his favourite pair of headphones for him. Taking them from her, he sat down at the desk, the overhanging microphone too low, as usual. He adjusted the mic, just as Margaret finished the countdown she'd been giving, and lifted the needle off of the record that had been playing.

"Heeeeeello, DC! Guess who's still alive and kicking. That's right; Gal-axe-y news has withstood the test once again. If you haven't tuned in at all today, we just got hit by _another _Super Mutant attack, biggest one so far. Almost thirty Super Mutants and even a Behemoth joined the party! But that wasn't enough to take us all out, not by a long shot"

He paused, and took a quick sip of water, before continuing "It's not all happy news though; this one came pretty costly. Five Brotherhood Knights got taken out, sacrificing their lives so that GNR could keep spreading the word. My understanding of the Brotherhood customs is that when one of them dies, their name gets recorded in one big ol' book, along with their heroic exploits. I reckon dying to protect this Beeeautiful radio station rates pretty high up there, don't you?"

Margaret gestured for him to keep going, as she replaced the records on the player, and he took another quick sip of water "But, wasn't just Brotherhood today. A pair of civilians joined in the fight to protect GNR too, and one of them didn't make it through. A tough, old guy by the name of Jericho. Now, he's not part of some warrior cult, so no record book for him. Still, I'm eternally grateful to him for what he did. So, all you listeners leave a little booze for the dead and buried, be it this guy or someone you lost yourselves…"

"Enjoy this next song"

* * *

A sense of déjà vu washed over me as I soon as I opened the door marked by the Brotherhood Emblem. The…feel…of this tunnel was just like the subway maintenance tunnels Jericho and I had used to get here, even down to the lighting. Letting the door close behind me, I brushed my bandaged hand along the sides of the pipes that covered the left hand side of the wall. The white fabric caught on something, and ripped apart. My anger flared again, and I tore the rest of the bandage off in a rage. My skin had mostly grown back since the injury, but it was still tender.

Grumbling to myself, I pushed open the next doorway, an odd door with a rotating lock that fell into the floor, and found myself in the car tunnel proper. Massive piles of dirt had accumulated, and even huge slabs of concrete found themselves covering the floor. Just like every other place I'd seen in the wasteland so far. Still angry, I stamped down on a pile of dirt; would it really be too hard for someone to start cleaning all this up!

My foot got stuck in the dirt, and trying to pull myself out just unbalanced me. Wrenching myself out of the dirt pile, I fell flat on my back. Getting to my feet, I let out an angry scream, trying to release the white hot rage that was flowing through me. I was answered by three more screeches from further down the tunnel. Within seconds, a trio of Feral Ghouls had made their way into view, their feet padding softly against the floor.

Anger still running hot through me, I flipped my Hunting Rifle to my shoulder and opened fire upon the approaching creatures. Aiming instinctively, it wasn't until the second shot that I realised I wasn't adjusting my aim for my eye injury, and by that point, they were too close. Dogmeat jumped one of them, but that still left two for me to deal with. I clubbed one of them back with the butt of my rifle, but it was torn from my grasp by the other.

I attempted to move back, but they were faster running forward than I was stumbling backwards, and their razor sharp claws cut through my thick leather armor, breaking the skin. Wincing, I kicked out at the closer one, knocking it down. The other jumped onto me, sending me crashing to the ground with the extra weight. Wasting no time, the Feral bit down on my shoulder, and its pointed teeth dug deep into the thickest leather plates. Even still, I could feel tiny pinpricks of pain were its canines had gone all the way through.

Mustering my rage bolstered strength; I pushed the thing up and off me, and got to my feet just in time for the second ghoul to jump onto my back. This time, I was balanced enough to avoid a fall, and quick enough to catch hold of it before it bit down. Using both hands, I threw it over me and smashed it into the ground. My smirk of satisfaction was banished when the other one swiped its claws along my back, and I let out a pained gasp, before shoulder-charging the ghoul behind me. We collapsed once more, this time with me holding it down with my body. Gathering both hands together into a fist, I smashed down on its forehead over and over, until there was nothing but mush left.

After I pulled myself to my feet, and walking over to my other assailant, I pulled my Pistol from my bag, placed the barrel on the back of the slowly recovering ghoul's head, and pulled the trigger once.

Once Dogmeat had finished tearing his opponent limb from limb, I went in search of my hunting rifle in silence. I found it broken in half, lying at the foot of a still standing metal pillar. It must have hit the edge and shattered when the ghoul threw it. I dropped the small amount of .32 shells I had left in my bag by my shattered weapon, before moving onwards. Another Brotherhood Insignia had been painted onto the wall near another exit into the tunnels, and I walked briskly towards it. Like the previous set of tunnels, it was poorly lit and had a set of pipes running along one side. Not far down the passageway, there was a metal drum with a small pile of embers at its bottom. Above the drum, etched in the metal wall, were the words 'To Mall Outpost' and a small arrow pointing to the next doorway. This one was just a simple handle. I pushed it open.

The sense of reminiscence grew with the next hallway, leading out into one of the all-purpose cubicle farms that I'd seen in the other train stations I'd visited. It wasn't as eerily well-lit as the one in Farragut station had been, but it was still slightly creepy. The flickering lights the Brotherhood must upkeep gave the room an odd feel, and there was a vacuum cleaner in one corner, just as dusty as the rest of the room.

Dogmeat let out a warning growl as we approached the next door, but I ignored him and opened it regardless. It led out into one of the Metro entrance tunnels, with its circular rooftop and strange fluorescent advertisements on the walls. As always, piles of debris had collected on the floors, and any colour the tiles once had was long since faded.

There was also a surprised looking Super Mutant standing across from me.

It acted first, and charged towards me, screaming incomprehensibly and dragging a sledgehammer behind it. I backpedalled quickly, but Dogmeat had placed himself directly behind me, and I almost tripped. By the time I'd rebalanced myself, the green monster was already swinging its hammer at me. I ducked under the first swing, and braced my Pip-boy against the second, and caught the wooden hilt rather than the hammer itself. Even so, the impact rattled through me, and I was too shaken to move properly when the Super Mutant attacked again. It was pure luck that the strike bounced off the cubicle before crushing me.

Suddenly, Dogmeat barrelled into the Super Mutant, driving it back into the Metro chamber. Dogmeat's impact with the monster was enough to make it lose its loose grip on the Hammer, and the mutt's growls and lunges further increased the distance between the Mutant and its weapon.

This made it no less deadly, and it resorted to pounding away with its fists. Catching Dogmeat with a solid blow, he sent my dog flying through the air, skidding to a still stop on the metro floor.

"HA! Stupid Dog Can't Kill Me! I CRUSH Stupid Dog!" The thing bellowed, as it swung its meaty arms in triumph. I ignored its stupid victory cry, and clutched the heavy hammer it had dropped in both hands, and when I stood up, I had murder in my eyes.

The Super Mutant paused in its revelry, and its big stupid eyes widened when it saw me charging towards it. Even still, it threw its arms out in a block, and caught my clumsy swings on its muscled forearms. It was obvious to both of us that my attacks didn't have the bone crushing power behind them as it's had, and within moments my early momentum had disappeared. Instead of just blocking, the Mutant allowed me to hit him, and he retaliated.

His fist caught me in my shattered ribs, and immediately I was coughing up blood. Even so, I was able to hold up the Hammer to block its next punch. It kept pushing me backwards, desperately trying to block its strikes with the length of the hammer, but there was only so much space for me to retreat into. I paled in fear when my back touched the cold stone wall, and the Mutant grinned stupidly. It pulled its fist back for one last punch, and I closed my eye and let my body go loose.

"AAAAUGHH!" The Mutant shouted, and I opened my eye a crack to see it clutching its mangled hand. I looked up at the space my head had just occupied, before I'd let myself fall. A huge, Super Mutant fist sized indent had been smashed into the brickwork. I pulled myself up, using the hammer as a prop, and slowly walked to where my injured opponent was kneeling on the floor.

"Please Have Mercy, Puny Huma-" The Super Mutant tried to beg, but I didn't even let it finish. Letting the hammer fall to the ground, I spat bloody spittle onto the dead mutant, before I went to find my Dog.

Dogmeat had landed on the floor near a Vending machine, and when he got to his feet, one of his legs gave out. I helped him up again, the burning fire inside me dwindling to an ember, and this time he kept his injured leg in the air.

"Sorry, boy" I told him, sadly.

Continuing onwards, we found the next direction to the Mall on one of the other doors. After descending through the much darker tunnels, we met another circle-lock doors that fell away with a prod. They certainly hadn't withstood the test of time very well. Past it was the railroad, and I was again hit by a sense of having done this all before. I've spent a lot of time in train tunnels recently.

Both ends of the line had been collapsed, but there was a gap between the two lines, which had been reinforced by the same barricades the Brotherhood had erected at the GNR building. I walked around him, and ignoring the makeshift wall that had been built up to my right (I could see past it that the tunnel was blocked) I walked towards the next doorway. There was no Emblem this time, but it was the only way to go forward, so when I pressed the button on the wall to open the circle-locked door, I passed off the feeling of anxiety as being unsure whether I was going the right way.

These tunnels, rather than piping, were covered in electrical wire, on the walls and ceiling. Following the wires downwards, I was surprised to see the metal sheets give way to stone. The tunnels led to a system of caves! I was just about to walk through the door ahead of me when I felt a knife blade being pressed against my neck. My captor's hand gently turned my head around to face a Teenaged Girl, wearing a ripped shirt and shorts, along with a Bandolier hanging loosely over her chest.

"Well, look at what I found sneaking" She said, giggling, while twirling the knife in her fingertips, always leaving the tip pressed against my neck.

My brain shut down; I couldn't think of any way of getting away from her before she had a chance to kill me, not with how close the blade was to slitting my throat. I held out my hand to stop Dogmeat growling.

"I surrender" I croaked, and the girl smiled predatorily.

* * *

The girl had quickly taken my Sniper Rifle and Bag from me, and tightly bound my hands behind my back with a length of cord. Grabbing me by the shoulder, she led me down the stairs, her knife flashing in the firelight, occasionally pressing against my skin.

Once we reached the cave floor, I saw four other figures standing by the fire that had been lit in the centre of the cave, warming their hands. They all turned their heads to look at us, and Dogmeat started growling again.

"What's this Jules? Found a new pet?" One of them, a tall man with metal bracers and no shirt, asked. My captor giggled, before leading me over to a boulder nearby, and setting me down there. I glared at her, but she ignored me.

"I suppose I have, haven't I" She replied, as she walked back over to the fire. One of the others, a small, wiry man with a few tufts of hair, started jumping eagerly jumping from foot to foot.

"Ooo, can I kill it. I'll make it nice and slow, really draw it out. I'll start with her legs, and mov-" the tall man suddenly slapped him across the face, knocking him to the ground.

"Cut it out, you fucking sadist. Jules found it, which means Jules decides what we do with it. Not you" after that, he went back to warming his hands over the roaring flames.

The wiry man, unperturbed, crawled over to me and grabbed a clump of my hair, pulling my head up. Drawing a switchblade from his belt, he started laughing maniacally. I could tell that Dogmeat wanted to protect me, but the canine must have been conscious of the proximity of the blade to my face, and only growled more violently. I closed my eye in fear.

"Actually, Weasel, I think I'll keep her"

The pain in the roots of my scalp suddenly disappeared, and when I opened my eye the small man was kneeling at my captor's feet tugging on the Bandolier.

"Please, Jules, do your pal a favour. I'll even leave her still working, so you can have her back later, just let me slice her up, just a little bit!" If it was even possible, I managed to pale even further in fear.

The girl feigned consideration, before answering "No. Maybe next time, if you're nice to me" Weasel sulked away from the fireplace, and disappeared away into the shadows.

Soon enough, this incident was forgotten, and the group of Raiders started eating. I hadn't eaten since I left Megaton, and the smell of two hundred real old TV dinners had never been so appealing. I caught myself salivating, and immediately clamped my mouth shut. It was then that the girl drifted over to my rock, a bowl of steaming hot Macaroni and Cheese in one hand. She plonked herself down, and sat cross legged in front of me. With her free hand, she moved my face this way and that, before nodding and starting to eat her dinner

"Yep, you're a keeper" she told me in between bites. I tried to turn my head away from her, but she kept moving from where she was sitting to follow me. I gave up pretty soon, and she grinned cutely.

"Oh, I'm being so rude. I haven't introduced anyone. I'm Jewel, although no-one seems to get the distinction between that and 'Jules'. You've already met Weasel" She pointed out the ratlike man's silhouette in the darkness "and Banner" she pointed at the tall man with the bracers and bare chest "That's Johnny, the one in the gasmask and all that padding, and that's Dane, the man with all those skulls. Don't worry; he's really very nice when you get to know him. So, that's everyone…What's your name?"

Dogmeat had stopped growling, and I had an inkling that this girl wouldn't leave until she got what she wanted "Ashlyn" I mumbled. She grinned again, and took another bite of the Macaroni. My stomach growled in envy. She chuckled, and dug the spoon into the Macaroni, before offering it to me "If you were hungry, you should have just asked"

After a moment of mental anguish, I swallowed my pride and took the offered food, my face bright red from shame. It would be worse for me to not eat, than to let this crazy girl feed me.

It wasn't long before the man Banner started to extinguish the fire, by throwing a handful after handful of dirt onto the blaze, and then moving on to turn out the Lamps scattered around their camp. Jewel led me over to the dying embers, where she watched them burn until they finally went out. After that, she walked with a skip in her step over to a Wooden Partition, one side with four sleeping bags, the other with just one.

Jewel pushed me into this sleeping bag wordlessly, leaving my hands tied behind my bag, before wriggling her way in beside me.

"Good Night, Ashlyn" She yawned, before draping one arm over me and quickly falling asleep. I did not have a restful night

* * *

The next morning I was woken up suddenly when the Sleeping Bag I was in was upended without warning, and I toppled out from inside it. Scrambling to get my face out of the dirt without the use of my hands, I finally got back onto my knees, only to see a smiling Jewel folding the bag away. The rest of the temporary campground had already been packed away before I had been awoken.

"C'mon sleepy head, time to go" Jewel chirped, before moving over to the other raiders, who had gathered around the empty fire pit. I got to my feet as well, but didn't come much closer

"I want us back at the main camp by this Afternoon," Banner was saying, "And when we get there, you guys should lay low. I'll explain to Jeremiah why we couldn't find anything, but if he gets mad, I want you guys to be safe. Except you Weasel, you'll be coming with me to talk to him" The rest of the Raiders laughed, even Weasel managing a worried chuckle.

"Okay, what are we going ta do with the dog?" Dane asked. It was the first time he'd spoken since I'd arrived, and his voice was deep and gravelly. Whenever he moved, the skull's strapped to his belt rattled against each other.

"How about we eat it" the muffled voice of Johnny answered. I noticed that 'his' voice was decidedly feminine, even when you took into account the Gasmask. With the amount of padding 'he' wore, I couldn't really tell what gender 'he' was beyond the masculine name. I looked at the Raider intently, but there weren't really any other clues. Then I realised I'd missed part of the conversation because I'd been too preoccupied with thinking about this

"…so you okay to carry it then, Johnny?" Banner was asking, and the Gasmask wearing raider of indiscernible gender nodded. I immediately panicked; had they decided they were going to eat my Dog?

No more words were spoken after that, further fuelling my panic, and as a group we headed deeper into the caves. Johnny was indeed carrying Dogmeat over his (her?) shoulders, and I'd been wordlessly declared the packhorse, and was carrying most of the bags. Jewel matched my pace, and in fact was carrying _my_ bag. I wanted to tell her to stop messing with my Sniper Rifle, but I was aware just how much of a bad idea making the girl who controlled my fate made would be. I'd probably be eaten instead of Dogmeat.

Half an hour of walking later, we reached a large metal door in the rock, and Banner went up to it and knocked on it loudly, three times.

"Pyrrah , open up!" He shouted, and his voice reverberated around the cave. After a few seconds of no response, he slammed his hand against the door again. Rubbing his forehead, he gestured for Weasel to move forward. The small man pulled a screwdriver and a set of pins from his belt and went to work at breaking the lock.

It soon became clear that Weasel wasn't a very good locksmith, and the pile of broken bobby pins next to him grew larger quite quickly, as did the amount of swearing.

I looked at the door itself, and mostly to take my mind off the weight on my back, started to guess at how it would work. Just from looking at it, the door was built in segments; a central stand where the locks all met, and four other segments layered on top of it. _I guess that when the circle lock disengages, those segments would retract _I thought to myself. Shifting my weight from one foot to another, I kept thinking. Unless the lock was just a diversion, built by someone who really liked screwing with people trying to break through the door quietly, it would have to trigger a set of 'paddles' to move the locks out of the position they were in now. If I'd built it, I'd have set the deadbolts in opposition to the locking mechanism, so that it would be nearly impossible to brute force through, meaning you'd need to have someone on the other side to retract the mechanism to get through. Since Banner had called out to someone, I assumed that was the case.

Suddenly, a really simplistic solution presented itself to me, and I almost laughed for not thinking of it straight away. I doubted very much, however, that it would occur to the increasingly aggravated Weasel.

"I can open the door" I said, and the other members of the Raiding party turned as one to look at me. Jewel clapped "I knew you were worth keeping" She told me, and I blushed. Wait, what?

"Okay, what do you need" Banner asked, crossing his arms impassively. My previous train of thought derailed, I quickly returned to thinking about the door

"I'll need my hands untied, and a screwdriver" Banner grunted in reply, but as soon as Jewel released my hands from their bonds, and after I'd dropped the bags on the ground, he darted across the gap and grabbed me around the throat

"You won't try any funny business, or try to run. And once you've finished, we're tying your hands again. Understand" I managed to nod, and he let me drop down. After I'd recovered from the choke hold, I took the Screwdriver that was offered to me, and went to work on the door.

The door could easily hold off an army, but if I'd designed it, I would have joined the segments together with Rivets, rather than screws. After some initial fumbling, I managed to remove a section of the door's retracting segments, which left the deadbolts open to me. Tossing away the metal panel, and ignoring the voices of the Raiders, I set to work on the bolts. I was right about the way the deadbolts were disengaged; there was a group of connections leading to the other side of the door that looked like they would pull out the locks…if whatever they connected to on the other side was activated. In the meantime, I started working on the circle mechanism that Weasel had been fighting against. From the inside, it was a lot less secure than it had been on the outside, and after a bit of tinkering, I had released the bolts on one side. _Now it's only a matter of pushing like _this _and…_

"Ta-da!" I announced, standing in front of the half opened door. Although I hadn't opened it completely, the gap would be easy enough for us to squeeze through, if we went one at a time. Banner nodded approvingly.

"I'm glad I didn't gut ya when everyone was sleeping" Weasel informed me when I handed back his screwdriver, and I quickly took a large step away from the small man. Jewel tapped me on the shoulder, and gave me a sad smile before holding up the length of cord that had been used to bind me. I offered my hands, and she quickly tied them tight.

This time, however, I had my hands bound in front of me.

Once we'd all gotten through the doorway, Banner and Dane quickly went to the Barricade that had been built near the door. As soon as he looked over the edge, the skull-wearing man let out a scream of Anguish, and jumped the Barrier. The rest of the group quickly gathered round to see what had set him off, and when I reached the barricade, I caught sight of him clutching the bloodied body of a blonde woman, surrounded by the corpses of three Ghouls.

"That's his sister, Pyrrah," Jewel whispered to me, her eerily happy grin not leaving her face as she looked at the corpse "She and Dane were very close"

Suddenly, Dane's stretched out his hand to Jewel, who handed him her knife, before leading me away "You probably won't want to see this," She told me, "Those Skulls on his belt are Dane's family. Literally."

A few minutes later, the grim man returned and handed the knife back to Jewel, now stained crimson with blood. I forced myself not to look at his belt, and even had to close my eyes to make sure I didn't. With Dane now leading the way, the group of Raiders proceeded onwards. I noticed that the tunnel we were taking had the Brotherhood Insignia painted in yellow on its entrance, with an arrow pointing the direction we were heading. A small silver lining to my situation.

Suddenly, the sound of Gunfire erupted further down the tunnel, and Dane spared only a small look back at us, before dashing towards it. Banner swore, before gesturing for us all to follow. We arrived at the top of the Tunnel just as Dane threw open a second doorway, and opened fire with his Assault Rifle. I was pushed along with the crowd, and we all entered the room to see what was happening.

A Horde of Ghouls was swarming into the Room, much more than the amount Jericho and I had faced, and had only just overwhelmed two unfamiliar raiders, dragging them to the ground and pouncing on them. Almost instantly, they were obscured by the oncoming mass of rotting flesh, now heading for us.

Dane sprayed bullets into the horde, but there were too many to hold back. Almost immediately, he was dragged under by the ripping claws of the Ferals.

We had barely a second before they reached us as well, and it was spent mostly in shock. Weasel was pulled down and ripped to pieces before my eyes, as he desperately attempted to fight back with his Switchblade. Banner hadn't had the time to draw his shotgun, and was desperately attempting to punch the ghouls who were attacking him back. I acted immediately, dropping the Raider's packs, and snatching my bag from the ground where Jewel had dropped it (she was using my Sniper Rifle as a club to beat back the eager Ghouls).

Taking one last look back at them, and especially Dogmeat, who'd been unceremoniously dropped to the ground, I ran desperately around the horde, nearly tripping over the Cinder blocks in the centre of the room. The Rage that had been pushing me through my fights since I'd entered the tunnels was nowhere to be found, and in its place was bone chilling fear.

Frantically dodging one of the Ghouls that had been left at the back of the horde, I made a run down the next corridor, which led me back to the train tracks. There were still more Ghouls waiting in the tunnels, and I nearly tripped trying to avoid the closest ones attack. I charged past them, only receiving a large gash on my arm from a passing slash, and kept running down the tracks. Skirting the edge of a toppled train, I made it into a Station. The promise of freedom nearly there, I ran towards the first escalator, only to furiously backpedal when I caught sight of a large ghoul coming down the stairs towards me.

I ran to the next one, and was about to go up it, when a patch of white caught my eye above the entrance to the next set of tunnels; a Brotherhood Sign and the accompanying arrow, which pointed me further into the maze of tunnels. My head darted between it and the escalator, and I finally made my decision. Dodging the Ghoul that had pursued me down the stairs, and catching my bag's strap between my palms when its claws severed it, I jumped the huge pile of concrete and dust that made a barrier between me and the entrance to the tracks.

My feet beating against the concrete, I kept running down the poorly lit tunnels. It was a godsend that my night vision had years of working in the dark, repairing or upgrading the minor grievances of the Vault's inner working, to develop, or else I would definitely have missed the next emblem, on the opposite track. Crossing the barricade with a jump, I made my way through the open door into a maintenance tunnel, until I reached a circle-lock door. Desperately, I kicked it.

It collapsed inwards. Definitely not as secure as the other ones down here.

The room I entered was much brighter than what I'd just come from, and my eyes took a second to adjust. There was a small table in one corner, and I dropped my bag on top of it. Pulling my pistol from it, along with the last two clips of 10mm ammunition I had left, I clumsily loaded the pistol. Holding the gun in my right hand and the spare clip in my left, I left the bag behind and resumed running.

Taking note of the directions painted on some glass panels, I ran up a set of stairs, through a trapdoor. After avoiding a pool-table and vaulting over a Barricade, I caught sight of a man's body being devoured by a lone Feral Ghoul. I forced the bile back down, and kept moving. Dashing through this door led me back to the train tracks, but this time, I seemed to be alone. This somehow made it worse, and I didn't slow down in the slightest. I tried to go left, but stopped dead when I sore a corpse, decked out in Raider gear, hanging from a chain anchored to the Ceiling. I turned around, and started running once more

"It can't be much further, it can't be much further" I repeated this to myself over and over, until I finally reached a second Station. This time, I couldn't have cared less if there had been a million Brotherhood signs; I couldn't stand being in these tunnels a second longer. I climbed the escalator stairs two at a time, only to slip and fall once I reached the top. If my arms had still been behind my back, it would have been disaster. As it was, I thrust my bound hands out in front of me, and they bore the impact, rather than my face. The spare clip of Ammo went sliding away from me, and when I stood up to look for it, something else took my total attention.

More chained corpses hung from the ceiling, and pools of blood and gore had fallen from them to collect in pools underneath them. Slowly, it dawned on me to look down, and I saw a pool of blood, growing from the headless corpse of a raider on a nearby mattress. I screamed, and jumped back.

Answering my scream came the now familiar howl of a Ghoul, and I peered over the edge just as a large group caught sight of me, and started making their way towards the escalators behind me. If it had been any other time, I would have become more frightened, but by this point I'd become as terrified as it was possible to be.

I started running once more, and headed as fast as I could for the archway on the other side of the platform, skirting around another barricade. I blocked out the sound of the pursuing feet, and I just kept running, as fast as I could. The way to the exit was covered with concrete slabs, metal spikes, dust and dirt, and avoiding it all was something that slowed me down. But it was worth being careful; I was done for if I fell.

I noticed as I zoomed past that there were two other barricades, each with a table and chair. Someone had once tried to defend this place, and all the evidence showed that they'd failed. These tunnels were as good as a death sentence!

Finally, the wire door was in sight, and I dragged it open as fast as I could with my bound hands. Running up the stairs with reckless abandon, I met the afternoon sun with tears of terror and joy running down my cheek.

* * *

I stumbled to a halt as I reached the outside, and I basked in the bright light. I might still be tied up, and I still, as unimportant as it felt to me right now, had to find the communications dish for Three Dog. Right now, none of that mattered, and I could just enjoy the feel of the sunlig-

_Thud_

I didn't have time to react, and I barely got my hands up in time to brace myself when I hit the ground. Even so, my head was ringing from the impact, and when I was turned over the world was spinning around.

Drenched in blood, and holding a knife against my throat, was Jewel.

"It wasn't supposed to be this way," She said, her voice breaking, "We were supposed to go back to the camp, and then we would have been happy…you weren't supposed to run away from me, Ashlyn!" She took the knife away from my throat, and clamped my arms to my side using her legs. She lifted the knife up, preparing to drive it down into my chest.

"You weren't supposed to run away from me…"

But, before she could drive the knife home, another factor entered the equation. A growl reverberated from the inside of the station, and Jewel turned her head towards the sound. Limping out of the subway, hackles raised, was Dogmeat. Just like the Raider, his fur was caked in blood, and he looked angry.

"How…" Jewel started to say, before the enraged canine jumped forward, knocking her off of me. Both rolled away from each other, and stood up. Dogmeat hopped around so that I was behind him, and growled. Jewel had kept hold of her knife, but she hesitated. For a moment, I thought she would ignore the threat of Dogmeat's teeth, and charge, but she didn't. She looked behind Dogmeat, at me, before dropping the knife and stumbling back a few paces. Then turning her head away, she ran.

I got myself up to my elbows, and crawled over to where Dogmeat had collapsed. Clutching him to me as best I could, I kissed the top of his head, tasting blood. He turned his mismatched eyes towards me, and licked my face.

"Good Dog"

I lost track of time, and I think I passed out for a little while, but eventually I moved from this position, and started to collect myself. Using the knife Jewel had left behind, I cut the cord that bound my hands together, and rubbed some feeling back into them. Slipping the knife into my belt, I found my Pistol underneath the broke-down bus shelter, and held it tightly.

Looking around the Mall, I saw a strange sight indeed. What had once been flat ground had now been tunnelled out into what could best be described as a fortified trench. I couldn't see anything occupying it, but I'm sure that it wasn't this deserted all the time. With Dogmeat limping at my side, I made my way towards the large building labelled 'Museum of Technology', and pushed open the glass door.

The inside was just light enough for me to see the huge green figure, facing away from me, standing in the museum lobby. I ducked into the shadows as quickly as I could, with Dogmeat following suit. We both crept along the wall, as silently as was possible, until we reached the stairs leading up. By now, the Super Mutant had gotten bored of the plane it had been inspecting, and it stretched out its arms and yawned. I froze.

In the end, there was no cause for alarm; The Super Mutant shambled its way out the front door, and I let myself fall to the floor in gratitude to whatever higher power was out there, or failing that just dumb luck.

"Puny Human Dead?" That gratitude was, to put it bluntly, unwarranted. I moved as quickly as I could, turning around to meet the Hulking Creature standing at the top of the Stairwell. I ran up the stairs quickly, pulling Jewel's knife from my belt as I went. Shooting might draw the other one back, and I knew I had no chance against two of them. Turns out I didn't really have a chance against one.

The Mutant at the top of the stairs had been holding an Assault Rifle, and opened fire as soon as I started moving. It was a horrible shot, so the first bullets to hit me were when I was thrusting the Knife between its eyes.

We both collapsed together, me holding my stomach and it just flat out dead. I'd been shot before, but I'd passed out nearly instantly. This time, it must not have broken my pain threshold, because I was awake and feeling the pain in all its horrible glory. I knew that stomach wounds usually take a long time to kill someone, as long as nothing else is damaged along with it. So, I was probably going to be feeling it for a while.

I struggled to my feet, and started walking. _I can find the Dish before my stomach acids killed me, that would be good I guess..._

My left hand still clutching my bleeding stomach wound, and my whole body starting to shiver, I shambled through the double doors. I was suddenly hit with an intimately familiar scene; the entrance to a Vault.

"Oh…Brilliant," I panted, as my chest started tightening "I'm hallucinating"

I shambled up the metallic stairs, my ears ringing. I couldn't make out whatever the noise around me was, and I almost lost my balance when I reached the top. Still, pushing myself forward (and gripping the railing with my free hand) I managed to make it to the bulkhead that I knew would take me home. It slid open automatically as I approached it, but when I tried to go down the stairs, gravity and pain won out, and I fell down hard. I didn't hit my head on the way down, and by a supreme effort of will, I managed to remain conscious and started dragging myself along the floor.

"Can't…g'tta…Dish…'mata" I mumbled incoherently, as the strength in my arms ran out. Rolling myself over onto my back, I stared at the dim light on the ceiling. There were still sounds around me, but I couldn't hear them. I could barely feel it when Dogmeat licked my face, and I couldn't think. It was all too hard…

Maybe if I…just close my eyes for a little…

* * *

I looked up when Amata entered the Cafeteria, and I brightened up instantly. Dropping my spoon into the bowl of flavourless cereal, I waved her over to me. After she took her dinner from Andy, who was distributing the food today while Mr Jenkins was sick, she slouched over to me.

A look of guilt was etched into her features, and my grin disappeared. She looked like she was sad to see me. She started digging into the large pile of Mash on her plate.

"What's wrong, 'Mata?" I asked her, and she looked up at me from her food and stared at me. She couldn't hold eye contact for long, and she broke away. She grasped the edges of her tray, and tried to stand up

"I should go" She said quickly, but I reached for her arm lightly and held her from moving away.

"Please, don't…we haven't talked in ages. I'd like to talk for a while" I begged. Reluctantly, she sat back down again. I stirred my cereal around with the spoon, and she moved onto eating the small piece of steak that she had for dinner. Being the Overseer's Daughter had its perks, I supposed.

Neither of us broke the awkward silence for a few moments, until Amata couldn't take it anymore

"It's not that I don't want to see you anymore, Ash, it's just that well, since you're on a night shift…" She garbled out, waving the piece of meat speared on her fork for emphasis. My grin returned.

"If that's the only reason, I can just stay up a little after my shift or wake up earlier, like today" I countered, after taking a bite of cereal. It wasn't that it tasted bad; it just didn't taste like anything. It was really disconcerting, which is why I normally preferred to eat something else before I went onto my shift.

"No, you can't do that," Amata said sadly, "I've seen you after you're shifts; you're a mess. You can barely stay awake long enough to get back to your room. I can't let you force yourself to stay awake, just so we can hang out like we used to" After that, she wouldn't discuss it anymore.

We both continued eating, until the other teenagers started filing in. I didn't see them very much either, but in their case I didn't mind. Butch and his group still caused trouble now and then, but they'd stopped messing Amata after I'd spent a week loosening the pipes on their toilets, turning off the power to their rooms, that sort of thing. They were smart enough not to mess with someone who could take the Vault apart around _them_ specifically, and then put it back together so they had no proof I'd done anything at all. I grinned at the memory.

The others weren't as bad, but I'd never really been friendly with them. The only other one to work a night shift was Wally, as a Security Guard, but I didn't see him much.

Amata had already gotten up to return her tray, and I followed her up, and out the doorway.

"So, I could drop by Stanley's and leave him a Note," I started telling Amata, as I followed behind her, "tell him I'm feeling sick. We could have a sleepover!"

Amata giggled, and we reached the door that the Almodavar household. The door slid open, and Amata paused before going in.

"Not tonight," she said sadly, "Some other time. Kay?"

I nodded, and waved to her as I walked back down the corridor, heading to the entrance to the Maintenance level. _Well, it wasn't perfect, but that was a good start to the night, _I thought to myself, _at least we got to talk for a little while._

* * *

I woke up feeling horrible. Dogmeat had curled up next to me after I'd collapsed, and whined mournfully when I tried to move. Peeling off the tight leather armor, I inspected my stomach wound. It had clotted, so at least I wasn't bleeding anymore. It still hurt tremendously, as did my ribs (which my Pip-boy had been digging into the whole time I was out), so there was a good chance I was still dying. That sucked.

After that, I looked at the Leather's themselves. The arms had been nearly shredded, and the Shoulder Pads were riddled with tiny bite marks. The obvious bullet hole in the chest wasn't very appealing, and it almost ripped in half when I held it up by one of the arms. I decided to leave it behind, rather than struggle back into it.

Getting to my feet proved to be a real challenge and I had nearly fallen over again once I made it upright. My legs felt like lead weights, and my balance was gone. Still, I managed to start moving forward again with my hand propped against the wall for balance, and move further into the 'Vault'

_Being underground got you down? Smile! Our Simi-Sun Lighting mimics…_

I looked through the thick glass windows into the exhibits, and I had never felt so creeped out. Forget underground labyrinths full of Monsters, looking at what is practically your home, and listening to the voice over informing you of how swell it is…the feeling of something not only walking, but organising a fun run, over your grave was an apt description.

I covered the ground as quickly as possible, and climbed the very rusty staircase out of the faux-Vault, and then out through the steel doorway. One hand still pressed against the wall, the other still holding my stomach in pain, I made my way through to the next section of the Museum.

After entering the West Wing of the Museum, I started to realise that I had no idea where in this Museum the Lunar Lander was, much less how to get there. And, as the pain in my stomach continued to remind me, I was very probably on a time limit to get the Dish and live. By now, the shivers that had forewarned me of my collapse had returned, and I didn't know if I'd survive if I went under again.

Something in the room caught my eye, and I moved over to the balcony. The wall had mostly collapsed, and only a few slivers of dry wood remained hanging from the ceiling. Through the gap, I could see a Plane strung up from the ceiling with wires…and below it, the Lunar Lander. I judged the gap between the whole in the wall, and the end of this platform. Looking down, there wasn't any obvious way of getting through to the other side, and I didn't want to get lost in the Museum

"Well, I'm dying anyway," I reasoned grimly, the hole in my stomach becoming more relevant all the time, "Why not take a risk?"

Telling Dogmeat to stay here, I climbed onto the top of the railing. I swayed back and forth, but I managed to keep my balance. I leapt.

I fell short of the gap, but I managed to lock both my arms onto one of the wooden points, and save myself from falling onto the ground below. I tried to get my breath back, but it was hard to calm down enough with the wood creaking. This was a really stupid idea! I was going to fall and bash my head against the pieces of concrete littering the floor, and everything would be for nothing!

I shook my head clear of these thoughts; I was going to do this, no matter what. I'd get Three Dog his Dish and find someone to treat my wounds. Then I'd find my Dad, and then I'd get back into the Vault!

"Just try and stop me" I grunted, and pulled myself upwards, ignoring the pain running through my body. I strode down to the Lunar Lander, pushing the dizziness and the shivers back. I took the Communication Dish, prominently displayed on its front, and returned to the gap in the wall. I threw the dish like a Frisbee over the gap, and then made the Jump again. Even from a lower starting point, my returned determination and the more solid landing place got me across without much of a problem.

After pulling myself over the balcony, I noticed that my stomach wound was bleeding again. I didn't have much more time before the pain that was still spreading through my body would be too much for me to ignore.

Picking up the Dish, I made my way back through the still open doors to the Museum's foyer. I wasn't thinking clearly, and I thought that jumping down to the ground floor would be a good idea to save time. I landed in a crouch, and even tried to roll to dissipate the force of the impact, but I still came away from it with more bruises than when I'd started.

Dogmeat was more sensible than me, and he quickly appeared down the opposite stairs, before running towards me. By the time he'd reached me, I'd gotten to my feet and started moving to the door. I held the Dish underneath my arm, and pushed open the doorway with the other. The sunlight nearly blinded me after the darkness of the Museum, but I held a hand out in front of me and waited for my eyes to adjust.

I could see the towering spire that was the Washington Monument in the distance, and I started walking. I didn't feel like braving the trenches, so I took the route to my left and dragged myself along through the concrete graveyard of the buildings that had once been here. The dead trees framed the edge of my shrinking circle of vision, but they were fuzzy. It would have taken an idiot to miss that I didn't have long left, but I could still see the outline of the Monument. I could make it…

_PingPingPing_

I let myself fall as soon as I heard the sound of bullets ricocheting off of metal, and flattened myself as best I could. I could barely make out the shape of three more Super Mutants standing on the battlements of the trenches, and another one running towards me holding…something. _Fight or Flight _I thought groggily, and got to my feet to run.

As soon as I started to flee, my chest tightened and I could barely suck in enough air to keep myself from collapsing, but I kept moving. The sound of gunfire, and the plodding of the Super Mutant behind me, all of that was fading. Even the pain that I'd been so carefully holding back seemed so far away now, and I barely felt it when a bullet thudded into my back. I couldn't think of anything beyond the next step.

I could see the base of the Monument, and vague movements and lights around me. My vision turned to black before I reached the gate.

My mind fell into the soothing dark of unconsciousness before my body hit the ground.

* * *

"Three Dog! Get up, and come see this"

The DJ pulled his Bandana up from over his eyes. Margaret was running back and forth across the Studio, flipping switches and checking instruments. She waved him over from the couch he'd been sleeping on, and finally he jumped to his feet. After he stretched himself out, he went over where the Technician was playing with all the knobs and dials.

"So, what's up?" He asked, yawning.

"Remember that girl you sent to get Washington broadcasting again? She's done it"

That caught his attention, and he was looking over her shoulder with interest. He didn't understand the readings it was showing him, something that he really should remedy one of these days, but he could tell from the slightly more emotive than usual Margaret that whatever they were saying meant something important.

"How far are we broadcasting, Mags?" He asked, and she turned to him with a bemused expression on her face

"I don't know; the whole Capital Wasteland definitely, maybe even all the way to New York or the Pitt…"

He was stunned. He'd been beating himself up over almost certainly sending a kid to her death, and then she turned around and did this! He ran to the recording desk, and placed his Headphones on. Margaret had been thinking on the same wavelength as he had, and was already setting up all those doo-hickeys that made Galaxy News a Radio Station and not him talking to himself. As he watched her work, he resolved once again to learn how some of the technical stuff worked around here.

"Okay, let's do this" Margaret said, as she counted down. Five, four, three…

_Thanks, 101_ He thought, grinning _couldn't have done it without you._

…Two, one.

"People of the Capital Wasteland, you can HEAR MEEEE!..."

* * *

Wow, another long chapter. This was originally even longer, but I editted out about 2000 words of it. By that point, it was getting too long, and those sections weren't adding anything to the story.

Also, for AT LEAST the next four weeks, this will be going on...I don't want to say hiatus, because of the negative conotations, but a break. It's not that I don't want to work on this, because I do, but I've got school, and thats going to be taking up the vast majority of my time. It isn't what I'd like, but the amount of time I dedicate to this would mean that I would be doing poorly with schoolwork, and thats infinitely more important than Fanfiction (as much as it would be fun for it to be the other way around...)

Also, thanks to boneslover13, sarana-snape, dajohu, Morgomir, AkScruffy, Tarelias, Stray Sentinel, portlandian and Krilos for your Favourites and Alerts, and thanks to Fayneir, Jacquirin, Morgomir and Meishuu for your reviews. Also, Stray Sentinel has suggested the album A Star Crossed by In This Moment, as Ashlyn's soundtrack. I think it fits ;)

Author's Notes are on my profile, including a bit of explanation to some of the more Bizarre things that happened this chapter


	7. Begining

The heat of the mid-day sun was almost unbearable. Even with the hooded jacket I'd been given by Margaret, Three Dog's technician, shielding my pale skin from the worst of the sun's rays, I couldn't shake off the oppressive burning of this goddamn brightness! I missed the Vault's soft lighting, where I could have easily turned down the brightness of the light bulbs if they'd been annoying me.

It shouldn't have bothered me much, but I was very angry. Too angry to not take the sun's light and heat as a personal affront (but not too angry to see that was illogical), too angry to consider waiting for the much cooler afternoon to continue travelling and much too angry to take a different, shadier route. I was on a warpath, and I wasn't going to let discomfort, or rationality, stop me from trudging my way to this 'Rivet City'.

And all of this because of Three Dog.

"Goddamn DJ with his bloody radio station…thinking he's so great…almost getting me killed for a stupid dish…His fault Jericho's dead…"

I continued muttering obscenities and curses under my breath as I navigated my way through the collapsed buildings, all thoughts of caution I'd had the last time I'd traversed through the ruins of DC gone. I didn't care much about whether the unstable concrete would collapse under my weight anymore, especially since the only alternative would be to brave the Metro tunnels again. If possible, I would never set foot in those accursed tunnels ever again.

Damn, I was so pissed off. Dogmeat had long picked up on my mood and was keeping quiet behind me, and I was glad. I didn't want to turn my anger on my companion.

"Oh, I'll tell you where your Dad is" I muttered, imitating Three Dog's drawl, "just almost get killed by monsters and get taken prisoner by some crazy raiders to find some stupid radio dish"

I kicked a loose stone and sent it flying down the pile of rubble, and angrily followed after it. I'd been walking for a long time now, starting from the Galaxy News Building –I snorted angrily at the thought of it- and just now reaching the waterfront, a few hours later. Before that, I'd spent a few days in a field hospital at the Washington Memorial, being ministered to by a Brotherhood surgeon, who'd managed to keep me alive while I'd recovered from everything that had happened while I'd done Three Dog's bidding. The other Brotherhood members posted at the Memorial had been rather dismissive of me, and I'd been glad to leave as soon as possible, hope raging through me as I'd returned to GNR to find out where my Father had gone.

"I think he went to Rivet City" I mimicked, scowling and punching at the air violently.

I continued around the edge of the Potomac River, ignoring the frequent ripples of strange things swimming around just underneath the surface, and fell into the effortless stride Jericho had helped me develop in the weeks I'd been out here in the Wasteland. I missed the old Raider, and not for the first time I wished that I'd not given those caps to Moriarty, which was what set this whole mess in motion. Or even better, that my Dad hadn't left Vault 101 in the first place.

I kept thinking along these lines until the sun set, and the cold set in. I'd been walking all day, but I still hadn't made it to my destination. The distance between the Galaxy News building and my destination had looked deceptively small on my Pip-boy's map, but the reality was that I still had a long way to go.

Even though Margaret had been kind enough to give me some of her spare clothes, no one at GNR had been able to lend me some bedding, and I'd only been able to carry a little bit of food without my Bag, lost somewhere in the Tunnels, so there was no reason for me to make Camp for the night. My anger had shrunk to a painful knot in my stomach, but it was still keeping me wide awake as I trudged along.

The Moon was high in the sky by the time I caught sight of a large building, jutting out from the land into the River. Even with only one good eye I had very good night vision, and from the brief description I'd been given by Margaret, I was fairly certain I'd reached the Jefferson Memorial. That meant I was very close.

So of course, it had to be now that I ran into trouble.

"Puny Human Don't Fight, Or We Kill Puny Human DEAD!"

I groaned, and turned around with my hands held high above my head. A pair of bulging Super Mutants had somehow snuck up behind me (I must have been too wrapped up in my troubles to notice them, or Dogmeat's warning growl), and each brandished some sort of blunt instrument threateningly. They were only a few paces away from me, and I widened the distance by taking a few steps back. Dogmeat stood protectively in front of me and raised his hackles at the monsters, who ignored him.

I noticed that the two Mutants looked rather shocked that I hadn't attacked them straight away, but they were quickly regaining their composure. That means I'll have to act fast. If I swung my left arm downwards while reaching for my Pistol with my other hand, I could throw my Pip-boy at one of them and attack the other while he was distracted, then take his weapon to fight the other mutant while he was stunned…

_Oh, stop it, now you're just being stupid. All you're doing is trying to find ways of fighting your way through your problems, ignoring any other way of doing things._

No, I'm just doing what I need to-

_That's not you talking; you're just letting your Anger make all the decisions here. Just because Jericho told you that the only way to survive out here is to shoot first, ask questions never, doesn't mean that it's always the only solution. _

So what should I do then!

_You have to stop trying to test your own strength against the rest of the world, because you're going to run into something you can't beat. Use your brain for once, not your fists._

I looked at the scenario again, and by now one of the Super Mutants was reaching to grab me with some expression on its face, that I thought might be a smile. They'd both lowered their weapons, but if I let it grab me, that would cease to matter very quickly. I skipped backwards as quickly as possible, darting out of the way.

The Super Mutant snarled as it held up the scrap of fabric it had ripped from my jacket, before brandishing its club high above its head and charging at me, its snarl turning into a roar. I dodged to the side but got barrelled over by its sheer bulk. Dammit, this wasn't going to get me anywhere…but neither was trying to fight them. I didn't have a chance against the two monsters right now, and deluding myself into thinking I could win that fight would get me killed. I got to my feet quickly, and looked around for anything that might help.

The two Mutants had gotten into position on both sides of me, Dogmeat had been slammed to the ground when he'd tried to attack one of them and I could hear footsteps coming from behind me. I doubted that they were from people coming to help me. To my back was the blackened skeleton of a tree and beyond that was more of the muddy bank of the Potomac I'd been trudging through for the last hour or so. I knew that if I'd risked turning around, I would have probably seen the outline of Rivet City in the distance.

I decided to try the strategy that had gotten me out alive from the last Super Mutant encounter I'd had; I turned tail and ran away from the hulking green mutants as fast as I could.

I didn't know how fast the Super Mutants were, but I'd been able to get to the Washington Memorial without them catching me while I had a large hole in my stomach, and I had a pretty good lead on them by my own reckoning when I'd turned my head back for a quick look…but I was already tired from walking all day and I wasn't the best runner in the world. And Rivet City was still very far away…

I felt my pace slowing, even as I tried to go faster, and I could hear the plodding footfalls behind me. It was easy to tell just from the noise that it wasn't just two Mutants chasing me anymore.

There was Rivet City coming into full view now; the huge repurposed aircraft carrier dominated the waterfront, and I put all the energy I could into just keeping my pace up, hoping that there would be someone to help me once I reached it.

I ran at full pelt up the incline in the ground, hoping that I'd make it to the metal structure that I assumed was the entrance to the ship before they caught up. I kept thinking I felt their hands reaching out to grab my hair as it flew out behind me, or to grasp the ends of my Jacket.

Not much further now…

I half ran, half slid my way up the ramp, catching a glimpse of about half a dozen Super Mutants behind me before I swung myself back into the action, and headed for the second level. None of them had looked tired, but I was breathing heavily. I might have been able to outpace them, but I'd only barely made it here without collapsing. They looked like they could continue running for days!

My boots rang out on the rusted steel as I pushed myself over the second sloping ramp, and looked around for the way into Rivet City. And I felt any hope I'd had of surviving fall through the floor.

The bridge had been retracted; I'd brought myself to a dead end, and a horde of Super Mutants were coming up the ramp behind me, brandishing their weapons and grinning.

"Puny Human Thinks It Can Run Away. Puny Human DUMB!" The closest one shouted, and moved to grab me. I pulled my Pistol from my belt and tried to look menacing as I pointed it at them. The Mutant stopped, before throwing his head back with laughter.

"Leetle Gun Cannot Hurt US, Puny Human!" One of the Mutants behind the leader informed me, as the leader recovered and lunged for me. I did my best to duck backwards, fearing that if I shot at it, the others would waste no time in ripping me to shreds. I had no chance of defeating six Super Mutants. I almost fell off the structure as my feet touched the edge, but I grasped hold of the handrail to steady myself.

_This_ was how it all ended?

Suddenly, the Speaker that was welded to the large girder in front of me burst into life, and both the Mutants and I momentarily paused in surprise

"Hey kid, duck"

I let my body go loose and fall in a heap on the metal walkway just in time to avoid being riddled with holes as a volley of shots rang out from the ship, holding in a scream of terror as I did so. The Mutant who'd been trying to grab me was pushed back by the sheer amount of bullets that struck him, and the others shielded themselves as best they could as they fell back. Even so, the shots didn't stop until all the Super Mutants had retreated or been killed.

I slowly lifted my head up, and turned to watch as the long bridge slowly rotated into position, until it locked into the grooves on this side of the ship. One of the figures on the other side waved me over and I got to my feet, startled.

As soon as I stepped off the bridge, it started to slide back into its position on the side of the boat, and I took stock of my rescuers. The four of them all wore the same uniform, black-grey combat armor along with face concealing visors. One of them ripped off the helmet, and advanced on me threateningly

"Okay, kid, you better give me a good reason for not throwing you off my ship right now!" The man snarled, poking me hard in the chest for emphasis.

"I'm just looking for my Dad" I mumble, turning away from him.

"And that's why you brought those Muties to my doorstep?" He shouted, before one of the other guards grabbed hold of him and pulled him back.

"Calm down Harkness, she's just a kid" The woman said soothingly. He just shrugged her off and walked back inside.

"Sorry about Harkness, he's got a few anger issues, especially when it comes to being woken up at 2 AM," The woman put her arm around me and started to lead me inside "I'm Lana, by the way. Let me show you around the ship"

* * *

I woke up in an unfamiliar bed. Well, I suppose I'd have been disappointed if I hadn't.

After getting dressed, leaving the tattered jacket on the floor, I went out into the main body of the ship. After talking to a woman named Vera Weatherly, I learnt that I was staying in one of the spare rooms of her Hotel while I was here in Rivet City. Lana hadn't shown me much of the ship last night before I'd crashed when all the adrenaline keeping me standing had ran out, but after wandering the dusty halls for a while, I found myself fairly comfortable with finding my way around.

I walked aimlessly for most of the day, just watching how the people of Rivet City lived. It was comforting to be in the bowels of the ship, but that comfort was bittersweet. It might seem like Vault 101, but it wasn't, and it only made my heart ache.

After all this time out here, I'd only now really been able to think about how much I missed the Vault, how much I missed Amata. I wanted to go home.

Shaking my head to dispel those thoughts, I opened the door marked "Science Lab". If there was anywhere on the ship my Dad would gravitate to, it would be the Science Lab.

As I walked down the stairs from the entrance way, I paused to let my eye adjust to the dim lightning. Besides a lamp and some light bulbs strung from the piping jutting from the ceiling, the room was dark, and dust coated every surface. Standing in the centre of room was a small group of people, packing equipment into travel packs.

"Uh…Excuse me; I was wondering if you could help me with something?"

"Make it quick, we're on a schedule," A woman wearing a spotless lab coat and spectacles replied, "We've got to check up on our Weather Balloons before something destroys them"

"Well, I'm looking for my Dad, and I think he might have come here…he's got grey hair, might have been wearing a Vault jumpsuit…" I paused as the woman tensed up, before leaving her pack and striding over to me briskly. She inspected me closely, and shook her head.

"James told me you were still safe in Vault 101. Why are you here Ashlyn?" She said emotionlessly. I took a step backwards, and pulled my Pistol from its holster at my waist without even thinking. I quickly re-holstered it when I realised.

"Do I know you?" I asked guardedly, "because I'm pretty sure I didn't tell you my name"

"I was there when you were born, Ashlyn, I helped deliver you. I was there when your father took you and left all of us behind. You shouldn't be here, Ashlyn, it's not safe out here in the Wasteland"

The uncomfortable knot of anger in my stomach exploded outwards, and I pulled away the dirty bandages from my face to show the scarred mess around my missing right eye "Do you think I don't know that? I am perfectly aware of how not safe the Capital Wasteland is!"

The woman seemed unperturbed by my outburst, and calmly walked back towards the desk she'd been packing her things at. I tried to calm myself, and followed her

"I'm not going to tell you where your Father went, Ashlyn, it isn't safe. Since I doubt you can go back to Vault 101, I hope you'll stay here until I return. We can talk about this more then" with that, she slung her pack over her shoulder and left with her assistants. I stood stock still, fuming with anger. I got this far, and now she just tells me she isn't going to tell me where to find my Dad, because it's not _safe_?

I shout wordlessly, kicking the side of the table hard, and immediately regret it when the pain blossoms in my foot.

"I hope it's not rude for me to comment, but I agree with you, miss" Said someone with a wheezy voice from behind me "Doctor Li is clearly underestimating you. I know a survivor when I see one"

I turned quickly, and saw a shrivelled old man wearing a dirty suit jacket and pants. Behind him stood a tall man wearing a turtleneck sweater underneath a leather jacket, looking impressive. The old man grinned at me and extended his hand

"My name is Dr Zimmer, and this is my assistant, Armitage. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Ashlyn"

I shook his hand awkwardly, my Anger being replaced with confusion.

"Same to you, I guess"

"Quite. Now, I'm frightfully sorry, but I must go straight to the point; I have a business proposition for you, Miss Ashlyn, and I hope that you'll accept"

I looked towards the door that Li and her team had left through, and turned back to Zimmer "Well, I'm stuck here until they come back. What do you want me to do?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked that, Miss Ashlyn," Zimmer said, beaming. He started strolling around, as if he was giving a presentation to a group of people "You see, I represent the Institute, a very technologically advanced group from the Commonwealth. I've travelled a long way in pursuit of some of our…property. As far as I can tell, this was the last place my Property was sighted. Other than that, the trail has gone cold" He looked back at me to make sure I was paying attention.

"Now, it is imperative that I retrieve this Property. All I'm asking is for you to keep your eye out for anything that could lead to me finding what's mine. I'm willing to offer you advanced technology in exchange for worthwhile information"

"Well, that's great, but you haven't told me what I'm looking yet" I said, eyeing the tall man -Armitage- who hadn't moved an inch since Zimmer had started talking to me.

Zimmer crossed his arms and tapped his fingers on the side of his arm, before looking at me pensively "Would you be willing to believe my companion Armitage is in fact, not human, but a synthetic being created by the Institute?"

"It's no crazier than most of the things that have happened to me in that last few weeks" I answered, shrugging

"Well, Armitage is a very basic model, with only the most minor semblance of intelligence. He has a few pre-programmed responses that he will give if spoken to, and a combat mode that activates in the event of danger to myself. Little more than a robot dressed up in a Human-like skin" He paused, waiting for me to respond, and I nodded for him to continue.

"But the 'Property' I am looking for is so much more. It was a fluke, really, but the Institute created one of the most advanced Artificial Intelligences ever. That is what I have been searching for, an Android designated A3-21"

"So why did it run away from you, if it's so intelligent?" I asked Zimmer nonchalantly, and he scowled

"I don't know, perhaps it got confused. However, that is irrelevant; I just want it back! It is my property, and I would very much like it returned!" He was no longer attempting to put on the façade of a charming old man "The only way it could have possibly have evaded me so far is if it has changed its face, and perhaps even erased its memory"

After taking a moment to compose himself after his outburst, Zimmer handed me a case with a holotape inside "The Android sent this to mock me after it escaped, it may be helpful to you"

I took the tape and slotted it into my Pip-boy and started to walk away, while Zimmer shouted that I should investigate Technicians and Doctors if I wanted to find more information.

* * *

_Zimmer. By the time you get this message, I'll already be gone. I'm escaping the Commonwealth. I want to live my own life, on my own terms, as my own man._

I took Zimmer's advice to start with. Starting in Rivet City was the only thing I could really do for now, mostly because I didn't want to leave and miss Li's return from whatever experiment she was checking up on. Once again, I was stuck with only one source of information to find my father, so I had to put up with her leaving. And her attitude towards me.

I was actually really glad Zimmer approached me with this, even if I thought it was a bit weird. As long as I was doing something else, I wouldn't have time to brood about everything else that's happened to me recently. I didn't care about this Android, or about Zimmer, but it was an interesting problem to divert myself with while I waited for Li to get back.

Finding the ship's clinic hadn't been too hard, even if I'd gone to wrong way to start with, and Dr Preston had been nice enough. Just like the ship itself, the clinic and the easy going doctor who ran it reminded me of home, and of Dad.

"I haven't even thought about that for…a long time. I always thought it was a rumour to be honest, a hoax!" the white haired man laughed and adjusted his glasses "The tapes went around the medical community, such as it is, and they all seem so silly. I mean, the technology to create artificial intelligence simply doesn't exist" He laughed again, and went back to sterilizing his equipment.

"I'm sure it's probably fake, But Zimmer still asked me to look into it" I replied, and Preston laughed again

"Zimmer's a Madman! He asks every newcomer to look out for his pet android. You're the first one to agree though," He grins mockingly.

"Okay, fine, you don't want to help me" I mutter angrily as I turn to leave, but Preston holds up his hands in apology.

"No, no, don't get upset, I'll help you" He said, before pulling a holotape out of his desk, and handing it over "Sorry I laughed at you, It's just a bit of a joke. I didn't mean to be mean"

"Yeah, thanks" I mumble, taking the tape and leaving the skittish doctor to return to cleaning his gear.

Listening to the tape only told me what I already knew; that the Android Zimmer wanted me to find was looking to get Facial Reconstruction, and its memory erased. As I left the Clinic, I started wondering why Zimmer had sent me to Preston if he already knew all that…

_I know what you're thinking, that I'm malfunctioning. I used to think that's what caused the runaways, too. But, I know better, now. Self-determination is NOT a malfunction. I'm just not willing to put up with all the bullshit anymore. You humans are going to have a full-fledged rebellion on your hands if you don't start treating us synths as persons._

I walked through the ships corridors, thumbing the plastic case of the tape Preston had given me. This whole thing was starting to make me nervous, and I was willing to bet that Zimmer knew a lot more about this than he'd told me when he'd convinced me to start nosing around for him.

Not looking where I was going, I turned a corner and crashed headfirst into someone else.

"My apologies, child, I didn't see you walking there" said the person I'd bumped into. He was a kind looking Old man wearing tattered robes, and he made a strange sign as he picked himself up off of the ground "I was carrying a large stack of religious texts, and they obscured my vision"

"No, it was my fault," I told him as I helped him up, "I wasn't looking where I was going either"

"Well, no harm done. My name is Father Clifford, and I am the one with the dubious responsibility of looking after the spiritual health of this ship" He smiled warmly, amused by his own joke, in the way that someone is amused at a joke they've told a thousand times before.

"I'm Ashlyn," I replied, before noticing that the stack of books that had been scattered on the ground when we barrelled into each other "Oh, let me help you with that"

Together, we gathered up all the books, and I was about to hand them back to Clifford, when I noticed one last thing that had fallen to the ground in our collision; a tape inside a case that looked identical to the one Preston had given to me. I handed Clifford his books, and snatched it up off of the ground.

"Oh, that…could you, perhaps, give that back to me?" The priest asked me nervously, but I took a step away from him and played the tape. He looked upset, but didn't try to stop me.

After I'd finished listening, I turned back to Clifford and looked at him accusingly

"Okay, what's going on here?" I asked him angrily, "Zimmer asks me to find some of his property, an escaped Android, and then suddenly there are signs of it appearing everywhere. It's like there's some big conspiracy thing going on here. What is the 'Railroad' the tape mentioned, and what does it have to do with all this?"

Clifford looked at me with a crestfallen look on his face, before looking to someone standing behind me. A young black woman wearing a white woollen coat had crept up behind me, and I jumped back, trying to keep both Clifford and this new mystery woman in front of me. This whole thing had put me on edge.

"My name is Victoria Watts, and both Clifford and I are a part of the 'Railroad'. I think we need to talk"

_I know you'll be marshalling the Retention Bureau to come after me. But I know all the tricks of the trade. You won't be finding me. I assure you._

"Okay, what the hell is going on here!" I shouted at the two of them, pushing my back to the wall.

"You've gotten caught up in something much bigger than yourself, Ashlyn, and it would be best if you got out while you still can" Victoria Watts picked up a black backpack that had been sitting at her feet, and threw it to me. When I caught it, I was surprised by the weight "Inside that bag is an android component, one that will fool Zimmer into thinking A3-21 has been destroyed. Give it to him, say you found it on A3-21's corpse, and forget all this happened"

I tossed the bag aside, ignoring the dull clunk as it bounced on the floor "No, I want answers. I want someone to give me an honest answer about all this!"

Victoria and Clifford exchanged a glance.

_By the time you get this, I will be someone else. It's the price I pay for my liberation. My final act of rebellion against a system I no longer believe in._

"Well, I suppose you should talk to Pinkerton" Clifford said, sadly.

_Goodbye Zimmer, and good riddance. _

* * *

The two of them had led me to the outside of the Ship, Clifford wringing his hands together worriedly, and brought me to the huge tear down the middle of the ship, where the prow had sunk deep into the mud. Staring into the murky water, I noticed that the ripples that I normally caught sight of in the Potomac had disappeared. Even still, the sense of foreboding I felt when I looked into the water was more intense than usual.

Victoria turned to me, and gestured towards the water

"Underneath the surface, there is an entrance to the prow of the ship. Inside, you'll find Pinkerton. He is an eccentric scientist who secluded himself from Rivet City, and he was the one the Railroad approached to help A3-21"

"Thanks, I mumbled, before stripping off the worn-out jeans and shirt that Margaret had lent me and folding them into a pile which I left on the bank, along with my boots and balled up socks. Standing in my threadbare singlet and underwear, I looked back at Victoria and Clifford (who was covering his eyes with his hand in embarrassment) once more before wading into the deep water.

The cold hit me immediately, and I almost gasped from the sudden chill. I managed to hold my breath as I swam downward, heading through a metal tube towards the doorway that I could just barely make out through the murky water. My chest started to ache as I reached for the handle, and I twisted it around, and pulled the steel doorway outwards just enough to dive through into the bowels of the ship.

As I pushed my way through the water, I began to regret not going back up for air after opening the door. Pushing myself up from the floor, my hands thumped against the ceiling, as I tried to find a pocket of air to take a breath in.

_Wow, that is another _brilliant_ decision there, Ashlyn_

Oh shut up.

Pushing onwards, attempting to ignore the horrible pains in my lungs, ducking down to enter a corridor, attempting to find some space to breathe as I went. As I reached the other end, I could feel myself starting to slow down. If I didn't find air quickly, I would drown.

Just as black spots started to pepper my vision, I finally felt my face break the surface of the water. The slant of the boat had put part of the corridor above the water, and I laughed in relief.

A clicking sound answered my laughter. Looks like I wasn't the only thing down here.

I continued on as quietly as I could, although ducking back under the water had taken several tries before I was confident to leave the relative safety of this pocket of air behind. I was almost scared…now was not the time to discover I had a fear of drowning!

Forcing myself forward, I continued onwards, making it to out of the water as soon as I crossed another corridor. I moved forward, and only barely avoided being skewered on the claws of a huge Mirelurk. The thing had swung itself at me as soon as I'd surfaced, and it had only been luck that I'd kept going fast enough to avoid it.

I squared myself off against the Crab, and dodged to the side when it charged at me. It quickly recovered, and turned back to attack me again, and once again I dodged out of the way of its sharp claws. I'd left my pistol back on the shore with my clothes, so there wasn't much incentive for me to stand and fight.

Staying as balanced as I could on the uneven slope of the ship, I ran through the nearest doorway, and up a set of stairs, listening as the Mirelurk's feet clacked across the floor behind me. I stole a look over my shoulder just in time to see the Mirelurk start to charge, and I rolled to the left to avoid it, scraping my back against the jagged ends of a broken handrail in my rush to escape.

The mutated crab continued past me. And exploded.

After the rain of sharp pieces of shell ended, I cautiously approached the pile of smoking Mirelurk meat to investigate. I assumed from the pieces of metal mixed in with the pink flesh that it had stepped on a Mine, or a grenade, or something. I guess Pinkerton booby trapped the place when he moved in. And seeing the type of creatures living here, I don't blame him.

The doorway ahead of the dead Mirelurk was locked, so I turned around to investigate the rest of the ship. Something caught my eye as I turned, and I noticed a small, scoped black pistol sitting on the blue table near the door, and a small case of bullets sitting next to it. I picked up the weapon, and loaded the bullets into the chamber. It was just dumb luck that I'd managed to deal with this Mirelurk, and I didn't want to run into any more.

After that, I headed deeper into the Boat, now keeping my eye out for traps littering the dark corners of the boat. I almost fell over a tripwire held taut at ankle height, but I detached it from its trigger before continuing.

The next room had only one door, and it was locked as well. I was starting to think that Victoria Watts had played me for a fool, and had sent me down here to be killed by the Mirelurks or the traps so that her Railroad thing didn't get discovered. I kept those thoughts in the back of my mind even as I noticed a switch on the wall opposite the Door, which unlocked it.

As the door swung inwards, I heard the patter of feet beyond it, and I proceeded cautiously into the room beyond. It seemed like a mirror image of the Science Lab on the main part of Rivet City; a small circle of light in the centre and dust coating every surface. I walked towards the lamps, noticing the beds stained with red blood behind the only half shut curtains. I gripped my new weapon tightly in my hand.

The same sound of feet, this time from behind me.

I swung around aiming the pistol first, already compensating for my missing eye by holding the scope slightly to the right, which would mean that when I pulled the trigger, the bullet would hit the wrinkled man who was pointing a rifle at me right between the eyes.

"Well, I probably should of put that away after I set those mines" the Man laughed.

"I'm assuming you're Pinkerton" I said, deadpan.

"Well, yeah, that's me" Pinkerton said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment "now, not to be pushy, but how do you feel about both of us not pointing these," He nodded towards his rifle, "at each other anymore?"

I lowered the pistol as he lowered his rifle "Victoria Watts told me that you were the one to ask about the Android A3-21"

"No, no, you must be mistaking me for another Hermit Scientist who lives alone in half a boat called Pinkerton" He answered glibly, and pushed past me towards a chest of drawers, from which he withdrew a pair of shot glasses and a half full bottle of whiskey "Can I offer you a drink?"

"No thanks, I just want to know what I've gotten myself into" I replied. I was starting to like this guy; he was probably the least sane person I'd met today, but he seemed the most genuine. He shrugged, and sat down on a stool and poured two glasses. He drank one in a single gulp and then picked up the second.

"Well, the thing about Harkness-Oh wait, you didn't know that part yet, forget I said that-the thing about A3-21, is that when he escaped from Zimmer's Commonwealth, he put out probes to any Techies, Doctors, Scientist as well as those he suspected were part of the Android Railroad. He wanted someone who'd perform facial reconstruction on him and not make him look like a ghoul, as well as someone with the knowhow to wipe his memories and replace them. That narrows the list to about four people I know of, and two of them were Dr Li and myself" He took a swig from his glass, before continuing "So when the Railroad approached the both of us, I only accepted because that bitch Li turned them down. Scientific Breakthrough, you know, even if it wasn't that hard"

"So what, now the Android is the Security Chief in Rivet City?"

"How'd you figure that out?" Pinkerton said, feigning surprise, "But yeah, Harkness is A3-21. Bit of a rushed job, but it turned out okay," He finished his whiskey, and put the bottle and the two glasses away.

"I documented it all, of course. Couldn't let an opportunity like this go by to have something that Li was too scared to do on my rap sheet" Pinkerton rambled on, before going to his computer and pressing a few keys "I'd love to go through it all with you, but I'm cranky and old and want you out of my house. I'll give you the printouts of it all, as long as you promise to leave me alone now"

After I agreed, he handed me a manila folder full of papers, and showed me a door leading back to the outside, and slamming it closed after I'd left. I couldn't help but grin at how the standoffish old man had ushered me out. He obviously didn't like being around other people very much.

Carrying the folder under my arm, I trudged through the mud back to my folded up clothes. I noticed that my feet had sustained a few cuts that were already starting to heal from going around barefoot, but I let it slip my mind after I put my socks on over the wounds. Once I was dressed again, I climbed back up the same structure I'd be chased up by Super Mutants the night before, and waited for the bridge to extend from the Ship. I pushed past the lone security guard that was standing at the bridge, and ducked into the Stairwell.

It took me a little while before I found Victoria Watts; she was sitting at a table in the main room of the Weatherly Hotel, sipping a cup of…something. I sat down across from her and slammed the folder I'd been carrying on the table in front of her.

"Okay, I'll admit that I don't have a stake in this, but everything that's happened to day…well, I want to know what the hell is going on here. I want to know why you're trying to fob me off with a backpack full of spare parts, and I want to know what's so important about Harkness."

"Harkness is no more important than any other Android that the Railroad has ferried to safety, except that he has Zimmer personally pursuing him" Victoria answered me, calmly sipping whatever was in that cup. It looked like river sludge.

"So what's so important about Zimmer? Why is it worth it to rip out something from another one of your precious androids just so you can get him to leave?" I knew I'd touched a nerve with my comment when she froze up.

"That part was from an Android that didn't make it to safety, hunted down by the Retention Bureau on Zimmer's Orders. It's a service part that's common in all their androids, and if you gave it to Zimmer along with the story that it came from the corpse of his precious A3-21, he would leave and you would have saved a life. Do you understand that?" She hissed at me, knocking her…beverage (you have no idea how much not knowing what the thing she was drinking was called was bugging me) over and spilling it over the table, which would have destroyed the files I'd found if I hadn't quickly snatched them up.

Victoria looked at me pleadingly "Please, I know you've listened to the Tapes A3-21 left before he erased himself. Do you really think it will make anything better if you hand him over to Zimmer?" She handed me the backpack with the Android component inside, gave me one last pleading look, before swiftly exiting. I sat in silence, before opening the folder and starting to read the documents Pinkerton had decided to leave me with.

Soon after, I decide that I really need to go confront Harkness about this all

* * *

I'd had to go find Lana before I'd been able to locate the Security Chief. He'd taken a break from patrolling or managing his underlings, and gone to the empty space atop the Aircraft Carrier. Once I waved goodbye to Lana, it was just the two of us standing there in the cold air.

"So, what do you want Civilian" Harkness asked, as he stared out over the ruins of DC, a pensive look in his eyes. All traces of his anger from last night had disappeared, and been replaced with a dull resignation.

"What would you do if I were to tell you that weren't who you think you are?" I asked, squeezing my hands under my arms in an attempt to stave off the wind

He stretched his arms out and inclined his head towards me "I would probably ask why you're all wet" He said, pointing at my damp and matted red hair, "and then I would tell you to fuck off. I'm not interested in any existential debate. I am what I am, and that's all there is to it" He went back to staring off into space.

I shuffled my feet awkwardly, before taking a step closer to Harkness, and leaning on the handrail next to him "Sorry about this Harkness" I mutter, "Activate A3-21 Recall Code Violet"

Harkness immediately collapsed to the ground, whimpering in pain. The Android curled up into the fetal position, clutching his hands to his head. And, just as soon as this had started, it stopped. Harkness (or was it A3-21?) got to his feet with a dumbstruck look on his face. The whole way he held himself had changed, and the hard lines of his face softened to a more serene expression.

"My god" He whispered, and I could tell that even his voice had changed dramatically, "I remember everything…" Suddenly, he convulsed and fell back to the ground. He grasped my leg, and I almost cried out from how painful his grip was.

"The Commonwealth…those Runners…Zimmer!" He suddenly darted to his feet, moving faster than I would have thought possible a few seconds ago "No, how did he track me down? I was so careful!" He grasped his head in his hands and continued convulsing "This can't be happening, no, this is all a dream. I'm not that person anymore…" He turned towards me, with madness in his eyes "This is your fault. You made me remember!"

He lunged at me, but stopped just as quickly, breaking off his charge midway and rolling off to the side. When he looked back up at me, the anger had drained from his face "Everything was a lie, everything! Why did you make me remember?" He cried out in despair.

I lowered the scoped pistol I'd drawn when he'd lunged for me, and held him awkwardly as he continued convulsing. Whatever I'd expected from giving him back his memories, this wasn't it.

"I'm sorry, but I had to know for sure. I just needed to know that it wasn't all Victoria Watts spinning some story about you so that…I don't know" I mused, still uncomfortably comforting the Android as he shook violently "I guess I was just being selfish"

A few minutes later, he seems to recover enough to stand back up and look the ruins of DC again, this time as a completely different person.

"What are you going to do now?" I asked, leaning against the handrail the same way I did beforehand. Harkness/A3-21 just stared into the distance

"Honestly, I don't know. I never thought that I'd ever have to think of what to do with my life again, since I was wiping away everything that made me, well, me. Maybe I just keep being Harkness, the Rivet City security chief" He turned away from the ruined city, and instead looked over the bridge of the ship "He might have been a grumpy bastard, but Harkness was important here"

"What about Zimmer? What are you going to do about him?"

The Android didn't even stop to think, before he went over to a loose metal panel near the entranceway to the ship, and ripped it open. Nestled inside was a small, cone shaped…thing. Looking over it showed all this complexity, all these tubes and exhaust vents. As Harkness/A3-21 picked up the weapon, he flicked a switch which sent a spark of green electricity throughout the weapon. A chesire grin blossomed over his face "Still as beautiful as the day I hid you up here, aren't you?"

Then he turned back to me, and said matter-of-factly "I'm going to kill him. I won't let him ruin my life here"

"No, you can't do that!" I cry out, not even sure why I'm objecting. Everyone and Everything bar Zimmer himself has confirmed the opinion that he's no better than a slave trader, no better than a Raider. Why should I object to Harkness ending the threat he poses.

"Why not? If you knew the things he's done, you wouldn't be defending him?" Harkness didn't seem angry, just confused.

"I just…if you kill him, others will come looking for him. It'd be better to just convince him to leave. And besides, you were just writhing on the floor in agony, I don't think you should be making decisions right now" To be honest, I found it hard to develop my argument even this far. It was just like when Jericho had first faulted me for not killing the Raiders in the Super Duper Mart, all that time ago.

Maybe after all this, there was still part of me that was still…I don't know…Moral?

"Well, I suppose that's logical" A3-21 said, returning me to the real world "I suppose Victoria gave you an Android component before you came here to me. Are you planning on using their plan of claiming you found it on my Corpse?"

"Yeah, I suppose so…wait, how did you know what the plan was?"

"Because I was the one who developed that plan for them" He said, grinning again. He threw me the weapon and I caught it clumsily "Take it as thanks, for setting me free. Besides, you might need it if Zimmer catches on" He said in answer to my questioning look. After that, he walked to the other side of the boat, and gazed dreamily into the Potomac. I watched him for a few seconds, before descending back down into the depths of the ship.

* * *

Finding Zimmer hadn't been hard; he'd barely moved from where he'd been standing when I'd left him. Armitage, on the other hand, literally hadn't moved at all. The film of dust that seemed omnipresent was doing a good job of covering him as well.

"Ah, you've returned, Miss Ashlyn!" Zimmer exclaimed, beaming "I trust your day was productive"

"I'm sorry, Zimmer, I looked into the holotapes, and I found out where your Android went. I found him destroyed in the DC ruins; I brought this from his corpse…it was the only thing that still intact" I tried to keep the lie as sincere as possible as I handed him the backpack containing the Android components.

"Oh, that's a shame" Zimmer replied, not sounding the least bit distressed, as he dropped the backpack at his feet. Suddenly, I felt all the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and I found myself going rigid. Something was very wrong

"You know, I would probably have believed you, even though you certainly aren't the best liar, except for a few things" Zimmer strolled towards me, ignoring the backpack "First of all, you're not the only one on this ship in my employ; one Lana Danvers has, for a hefty sum, been informing me of the comings and goings of all residents on this ship, and I happen to know that you haven't been anywhere near the DC ruins since I gave you my assignment. She also informed me that you've been spending a lot of time with Veronica Watts, a member of the Android Railroad" I try to keep a straight face, but internally, I'm cursing Lana. Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!

"Second of all, your hair is damp, which means that you must have been in the water sometime today. And even I know that the only thing of note in the water around here is the entrance to the fabled Pinkerton's lab, and he doesn't abide visitors accept for those he considers worthy of his genius; he would certainly consider being the first to give facial reconstruction to an Android, as well as performing Memory Alterations to the same"

His hand darts out faster than I thought it could go, and grasps me around the throat "and last of all, you are carrying my Android's weapon"

I kick out at him desperately, trying to push myself away as I drew my scoped pistol. Getting Zimmer to leave peacefully was out of the question now, and I felt that defaulting to Harkness's plan was better than nothing.

Before I understood what was happening, I was flung across the room by Armitage, my Pistol going flying off in a different direction. I'd completely forgotten about Zimmer's Android guardian. And Zimmer had even warned me about him earlier.

I didn't have time to be thinking about this though, because the Android had already closed the difference between us in the split-second I'd been distracted, and slammed his palm into my chest to send me flying backwards into the air, to land heavily on the Table in the centre of the room.

He was so fast!

I tried to block his next punch by using my Pip-boy as a shield, but his arm twisted and he struck me across the face with his other hand, once again sending me flying across the room, this time into a set of filing cabinets. My head was ringing and my vision was blurry, but I slowly struggled to pull myself back to my feet. Armitage was standing between Zimmer and me, seemingly content till I made another move before attacking.

"Well, if that's the way you want to play it" I grunted, pulling the Plasma Rifle from my shoulders and aiming for the Android's Body. Moving so suddenly after being tossed around like that made my head spin, so when I fired the bolt of green energy, it scorched the air well away from the Android's body and dissipated into the wall harmlessly.

Seemingly accepting my attack as grounds to continue pummelling me, The Android darted forward again, fist pulled back to strike. I clumsily ducked to the side, but his fist still clipped my right shoulder. Well, if 'clipped' can really apply to something that felt like a being hit by a train.

I rolled to the ground biting down hard to avoid screaming in pain, and attempted to roll away from my aggressor. Armitage helped me along with a brutal kick to the ribs, and used his foot to send my weapon flying away from me.

Fighting to stay conscious and fully aware that all the crudely healed bones in my upper body from all the other wounds I'd sustained out in the Wasteland had probably been broken again by this beating, I dragged myself upright using the stairwell I'd been catapulted into. I noticed that I'd been knocked over to where my Scoped Pistol had slid over to.

I picked up the weapon, and reasoning that Armitage would have to go on the defensive if I attacked Zimmer again, took aim at the old man.

The Android's Response was immediate.

Kicking up my Plasma rifle, and catching it one handed, the Android fired a bolt of Plasma that closed the gap between us faster than I could blink, and cut through my arm at the elbow.

The pain was horrible, and worse than anything else I'd experienced. The molten hot bolt passed through my arm like there wasn't even anything there, and the burning green energy that remained on the wound sizzled for several seconds. I couldn't think. I couldn't do anything to alleviate the horrible burning pain. I know that I screamed.

I was unconscious before I hit the floor

* * *

Zimmer looked at the scene unfolding in front of him with displeasure. Such a shame, he thought, that this bright and talented girl had been corrupted against him by the Railroad. She wouldn't have had to be hurt in such a way if she had simply co-operated with him.

He watched with pride as Armitage resumed his normal position a few steps behind him. The A1 model was dumber than a bag of hammers, but they fulfilled their purpose brilliantly. And his own personal modifications had made Armitage a threat to even the most deadly combatants. Many a Wasteland Monster had found themselves torn to pieces by the Android.

He looked over at the shuddering girl, saddened as her Body went into shock from the grievous wound Armitage had inflicted on her in his defence. It really was a shameful waste of talent, considering how little she'd accomplished by her actions.

"Oh, Armitage, I'm too soft for my own good" He said, as he opened his briefcase onto the unfortunately limited scientist's work table. If only she hadn't been so restricted in her vision by worthless virtues like respect and morality, Dr Li could have definitely had some potential, but as it was, Madison Li would never amount to anything. Another deplorable waste of talent.

"**As you say, sir**" Armitage replied, a few seconds later than was really acceptable in conversation. Zimmer scowled; his guardian must have damaged his speech synthesizer, or perhaps some of the code that gave him his dialogue options had been corrupted. He would have to fix that later, lest he have no-one to talk to on the long trip home.

Even so, he was focused on the task at hand, removing the components and wiring he would need. Thankfully, Li's lab came equipped with Surgical Equipment, which made this easier. He directed Armitage to collect my Patient, while He inspected whatever pieces of debris the Railroad had tried to convince him was A3-21's remains.

"Oh look, Armitage, they've given me an Arm! How convenient" He smirked, holding up the beautiful piece of engineering he held in front of him. He could tell from some of the markings that it was from an A2 model. Oh, they simply didn't understand the subtleties of it all. How did they expect to fool him if they thought that he wouldn't notice such an obvious mistake?

Laying the Arm down on the operating table along with the wires, receptor chips and cables, he opened up the secret compartment in the false bottom of his briefcase and retrieved a single power cell. The Glowing white cylinders were, to be frank, miniature nuclear reactors, capable of powering something of an Androids complexity for up to one hundred years. It was the Institute's Magnum Opus, and a large part of his life had been dedicated to perfecting it.

The official reason he always carried these components was to make repairs on Armitage if necessary, but even his superiors knew he was lying. After all, he would have happily taken the Arm from Armitage if the Railroad hadn't been kind enough to provide one for him.

The _real_ reason was that he liked to be prepared, just in case, for events like this. He'd been the one most eager to perform these surgeries in the early stages, before Androids were anything more than a pipe dream. And now he had the opportunity to indulge himself again.

"**Indeed, sir**" Armitage chimed in, replying to his earlier comment and once again reminding him of the A1's many failings. He felt his scowl return as the Android placed the Girl's body on the table in front of him.

"Well, Miss Ashlyn, it seems like you are on death's door. But don't fret; Dr Zimmer will make you all better!" Twisting the scalpel around in his fingers, he calmly started making the necessary incisions along the arm, and started threading the wires throughout the tissue. It was second nature to him, after the innumerable times he'd performed this type of surgery in his youth. He felt twenty years younger!

"No need to thank me, of course, I'm doing this for my own benefit as well as yours" He murmured, making a deeper cut along her chest, cutting a large 'Y' along her chest and peeling the skin back. With practiced ease, he removed the ribs on her right side, taking care to avoid damaging the surrounding tissue. In their place, he threaded the metallic plate that would protect the power cell from damage through into the cartilage, using small steel pins to affix it firmly to the sternum.

With that done, he connected the wires in the stump of her arm to the Power Cell, along with the extra wires that would later be attached to the implant in her head. Normally, he would leave this till last, but he was nervous to leave this much longer, considering the risk of the Girl going into shock from her wounds increased every second, and he would prefer to get this leg of the surgery done with as soon as possible.

Closing up the opening in her chest cavity, he was astounded to see the flesh knitting itself back together in front of his eyes.

"But that's impossible" he murmured, watching in disbelief as the wounds closed themselves. The same thing was happening with the cuts he had made on her arm, and he was momentarily dumbstruck by this astounding scientific miracle.

It appeared that he had stumbled onto the possessor of a very beneficial mutation.

Putting this revelation to the side for the moment, he continued to go about completing the surgery, doing his best to work with the odd difficulty of having to remake incisions and cuts every few minutes to stump this bizarre healing factor. Even so, it wasn't long before he had successfully attached the modified A2 limb to the stump of the girl's right arm. The metal glinted in the light of the lamp, and he smiled with delight. This had always been his favourite part.

As he made to insert the control implant, he noticed the empty cavity where the girl's right eye should have been, and he smiled.

* * *

Zimmer was content that his plan to simply strut out of Rivet City as obviously as possible, leading both Armitage and his new charge with him off of the boat, would work. Of course, he'd known that A3-21 would challenge him as he tried to leave, as soon as he realised that his 'friend' was with him. It was all too easy to predict the rogue synth's actions, at this stage of the game.

That A3-21 was Harkness, the grumpy security chief, had been a surprise, but based on Mrs Danvers' helpful reports on where the girl who now trailed him like a puppy had gone, it was really quite a simple connection to make. Oh well, what of it, a simple command code had ended whatever 'self-determination' that A3-21 had claimed to possess. All in all, a very successful re-capture mission.

As he and his party of Androids and a single Cyborg left Rivet City, he found himself being followed by a whimpering mutt of a dog, who insisted on staying close to the girl and whining.

"What do you want, you mangy dog?" Zimmer asked angrily, but the animal's only response had been more whining, as well as rubbing its body against the expressionless body of the girl. He'd scowled, but it was too much trouble to make the creature leave.

Perhaps it would be better company than his trio of practically brain-dead robots?

* * *

Author's notes on my Profile, for this and all other chapters.

Thanks to kawesome86, Chris The Cat, lilyellowcrayon, kou32, Android k/18, jmantyk, Mr. Zeek, See That Guy, raigestarr, Lupus7, wejx89 and An Unsavoury Character for your Favourites and Alerts, and thanks to Jaquirin, See That Guy, Morgormir, Lupus7, Zero-Vision and Fayneir for your Reviews. You guys are the ones that make me glad to be writing this.

Till Next Time


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